^ 



OCCASIONAL ESSAYS 

ON VARIOUS SUBJECTS, 

CHIBFLY 

POLITICAL AND HISTORICAL, 



i *A 
M 

OCCASIONAL ESSAYS 

ON VARIOUS SUBJECTS, 



CHIEFLY 



POLITICAL AND HISTORICAL; 

EXTRACTED PARTLY FROM 

THE PUBLICK NEWSPAPERS, 

DURING THE PRESENT REIGN, 
AND PARTLY FROM 

TRACT S/ 

PUBLISHED IN TnE REIGNS OF 

QUEEN ELIZABETH, KING CHARLES /., KING CHARLES II., 

AND FROM 

BISHOP BURNET'S HISTORY OF HIS OWN TIMES. 



LONDON; J 
PRINTED BY ROBERT WILKS, IN CHANCERY-LANE } 
JUND SOLD BY JOHN WHITE, BOOKSELLER, IN FLEET-STREET. 

1809. 



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-D** 1 

H* 



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L 



THE 

PREFACE. 



JL HE Volume here presented to the Publick, 
consists of several different tracts, relating; mostly 
to Political and Historical subjects and events, 
that have occurred in the course of the last fifty 
years, and which have already been printed, either 
in some of the Publick Newspapers, or in separate 
Pamphlets or larger Works, (some of which are 
grown scarce and difficult to be met with,) and 
partly, of some tracts of a more autieht date, 
(relating also to the subjects of History and Poli- 
ticks,) published in the times of Queen Elizabeth 
and Charles the I. and Charles the II. and in the 
beginning' of the last, or 'eighteenth', century: and 
amongst these the reader will find the excellent 
tract of the celebrated John Milton, on the Liberty 
of the Press, intitled, Areopdgiticd 9 A speech for 
the liberty of unlicensed printing, addressed to the 
Lords and Commons of England, in November 
1644; which I have never met-with in a separate 
pamphlet, and which is, I believe, hitherto to 
be found only in the general collections of Mil- 
ton's Prose-works. There are also in this volume 
some interesting papers on the late trade to Africa 
for Negroe-s laves, and a valuable extract from 
a work of Mr. John Harriott, in support of the 
Justice and Wisdom of the late abolition of it, 
by Act of Parliament ; which is a measure con- 

a3 



/JL 



VI THE PREFACE. 

cerning which it is only to be lamented, that it 
was not adopted ten or twelve years sooner* 
There are also some papers concerning the late 
unhappy dispute with our Colonies in North 
America, which ended with our loss of them> 
and which, (by the great debt which the late 
King of France incurred, by the assistance he 
gave to the revolted colonies ia that contest, and 
which the French Nation were unwilling to dis- 
charge,) has since been the principal cause of 
the dreadful Revolution in France, in 1789, and 
of the subsequent destruction of most of the 
Governments in Europe, by the victories of its 
present formidable ruler. These are some of the 
principal Topicks to which the papers here col- 
lected relate, and I have therefore given them 
the title of Occasional Essays on different subjects > 
chiefly Political and Historical I will now pro- 
ceed to set-down the separate titles of them, and 
the pages of the Volume, in which they are to 
be found, in their regular order, as follows. 



/ 



A TABLE 



CONTENTS 
Of the several Tracts contained in this Voluiie. 



NUMBER L 



ON the Exclusion of Mr. John Wilkes, from his seat in the 
House of Commons, as Member for the County of Mid- 
dlesex, after his expulsion and re-election. 

In pages, 1, 2, 3, Q i 

NUMBER II. 

A Proposal for a Reconciliation with the Revolted Provinces 2 
of North-America, without exempting them from the 
Authority of the British Parliament— In the year 17/5. 

In pages 10, 11, 12,- — -23. 

NUMBER III. 

On the Inexpediency of Establishing Bishops in North- America. 

—In March, 1778. 

In pages 24, 2.5, 26, -30. 

NUMBER IV. 
A Paraphrase on a Passage in a Sermon, preached by the late 
Most Reverend Dr. William Markham, Archbishop of 
York, before the Society for Propagating the Gospel, on 
the 2 1st of February, 1777; 
When it was expected by the persons who had advised the 
American War, that the revolted Colonies" in America 
would soon be intirely subdued and reduced to the obe- 
dience of the British Parliament. 

In pages 31, 32, 33, &. 

a 4 






Till CONTENTS. 

NUMBER V. 
On the State of North-America, after the Capture of Lord 

Cornwall's Army. 

In pages 49, 50, 51,— 58. 

NUMBER VI. 

Thoughts on the Independance of America, and the best nian* 

ner of acknowledging it. 

In pages 59, 60, 6l,« 64. 

NUMBER VII. 

The First Royal Charter, granted to the Colony of Massachu- 
setts Bay, in North America, in the 4th year of the reign 

of King Charles the 1st. 

In pages 65, 66, 67 -9?. 

NUMBER VIII. 
The Second Royal Charter of the Colony of the Massachu- 
set's Bay, in North America, in the 3d year of the reign 
of King William and Queen Mary. 

In pages 93, 94, 05,— 124. 

NUMBER IX 

The Votes and Proceedings, of the Inhabitants of the Town of 
Boston, in October and November 1772; containing a 
particular enumeration of the Grievances of which they 
complained, and which gave rise to the alarming Discon- 
tents iu America. 

In pages 125, 126, 127, 160. 

NUMBER X. 

An Account of the Noblesse, or Gentry, in Canada, in the 

year 1775. 

In pages 16 1, 162, l63, 167. 

NUMBER XT. 
An Account of the shocking arts of Cruelty, committed bv the 



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CONTENTS'*' **. 

Peasantry in Franche-Comte, and other provinces of 
France, upon their Nobility, or Gentry, in the year 178<); 
translated from a Letter published in French by Mr, 
Lally Tolendahl, a distinguished Member of the first 
French National Assembly. 

In pages 16*S, 1G9, 170, 176.- 

NUMBER XII. 

An Account of the Opinions of the late Adam Smith, LL.D-, 
the author of the celebrated treatise, iutitled " The Wealth 
of Nations," concerning the works of several Englisk 
Authors. — From a Letter to the Printer of the White-Hall 
Evening Post. 

In pages 177, 173, 179 182- 



•G 



. NUMBER XIIL 
On the Doctrine of Libels, as it has been represented by some 

Judges. 

In pages 183, 1S4, 183, 186- 

NUMBER XIV. 

The Bill proposed by Mr. Fox and Mr. Eiskine, in support of 
the Right of Juries to determine the whole matter in issue 
in criminal prosecutions for publishing Libels. — In Fe- 
bruary 1792. 

N.B. This excellent Bill passed through both Houses 
of Parliament, and received the Royal Assent, 
and therefore is, now, beyond all dispute or 
doubt, the Law of the Land. 

In pages 187, 188. 

NUMBER XV. 

Areopagitica : a Speech for the Liberty of unlicensed Printing, 
addressed to the Parliament of England ; published ki 
November, 1 644.— By John Milton, the author of Para- 
dise Lost. 

Io pages 1S9, 190, 1J)1, 24& 



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* CONTENT! 

NUMBER XVI. 

Of the Innocence of the late King of France, Lewis the XVItli 
w^h respect to a!! the Charges lately brought against him. 
—In May, 1733. 

In pages 247, 248, 249, 251. 

NUMBER XVII. 

On Mr. Courtney's intended Motion in the House of Com- 
mons, concerning the Process of Ecclesiastical Courts for 
Incoutinency, against persons that have been married to 
each other in some manner not allowed by Law. — In 

May, 1793. 

In pages 252, 253s 

NUMBER XVIII. 

Reasons why the War with France could not be avoided — In 
September, 1793* 

In pages 254, 255, 256, 259- 

Thoughts on the late Negotiation for Peace. — In October, 

1797- 

In pages 260, 2ol, 262, 263. 

NUMBER XIX. 

Reflections on some of the most important Articles that it" 
would be reasonable to adopt, in forming a Legislative 
Union of the two kingdoms of Great-Britain and Ireland ; 
which was a measure that was much the subject of conver- 
sation in the years 1797 and 1798, and was afterwards 
carried into execution in the year 1800. — In the year 179§- 
In pages 264, 265, 266, 270, 

NUMBER XX. 

On persons in Holy Orders being rendered ineligible to serve 

as Members of the Commons House of Parliament. — In 

May, laoi. 

In pages 271, 272, 273, 274, 



CONTENTS. 'xi 

NUMBER XXI. 

#n the Right of Searching Neutral Vessels, in orrler to discover 
and seize any property belonging to an Enemy, that 
may be on board them. — In June, 1801. 

In pages 275, 276, 177, 280. 

NUMBER XXII. 

On the Slave Trade.— April 3, 1805. 

In pages 281, 282, 283, 285. 

NUMBER XXIII. 

Oa the Slave Trade — April 8, 1805. 

In pages 286, 287, 288, 292. 

NUMBER XXIV. 

Further Reflections on Negroe-Slavery. 

In pages 293, 294, 2£)5, 2£}6. 

NUMBER XXV. 

The 36th chapter of Lieutenant John Harriott's useful and 
entertaining work, intitled, " Struggles through Life,'* 
Vol. 2; which chapter treats of the following subjects, to 
wit, Slavery in North America, in Turkey, Barbary, tlie 
European States, up the Mediterranean, and in the East and 
West Indies'; Observations on Slavery ; Hints for a gradual 
Emancipation, 

In pages 296; 297, 298, 307- 

NUMBER XXVI. 

The Pre-eminence and Duty of Parliament written in the 
year 1646, by James Howell, Esq. 

In pages 308, 309, 310, 3l6. 

N. B. This Discourse, amongst other important and curious 
matter, contains, (in page 3 13) an account of the remark- 
able circumstances, by means of which the Kings of France 



ill CONTENT'S. 

were enabled to assume to themselves, the power of im- 
posing taxes on their subjects in Paris, and the Isle of 
France, without the consent of the three Estates of the 
kingdom, to wit, the Clergy, the Nobles, and the Third 
Estate, or the Commonalty. 

NUMBER XXVII. 

A Memorial presented to Queen Elizabeth against her Ma" 
jesty's being engrossed by any particular Favourite. 

Written by William Cecil, Lord Burleigh, then Lord High* 
Treasurer of England 

Reprinted from the Cahala, or Mysteries of State, published 
at London in the year 1715. 

In pages 317, 318, 319, 323* 

NUMBER XXVIII. 

The State of a Secretary's Place, and the dangers incident to 
it. 

Written by Robert Cecil, Earl of Salisbury. 
Reprinted also from the Cabala, or Mysteries of State, pub- 
lished at London in the year 1715. 

In pages 324, 325, 326Y 

NUMBER XXIX. 

Considerations on the Expediency of procuring an Act of Par- 
liament, for the Sett lement of the Province of Quebeck, 
drawn-up and printed in the year 176*6*, for the inspection 
of his Majesty's Ministers of State at that time, in hope*. 
of obtaining an Act of Parliament for the said important 
purpose. 

In pages 327, 328, 329, 364. 

NUMBER XXX. 

Reflections on the foregoing Tract, and on the Sketch of an 
Act of Parliament therein contained, and on the necessity 
of the Authority of an Act of Parliament, to render legal aL 



' 

4 



CONTENTS. Xlii 

measure at that time adopted by his Majesty's Ministers 
of State, of permitting a Roman-Catholick priest, named 
John Oliver Briand, to be consecrated Bishop of Quebeck, 
and to exercise his Episcopal functions in the said Province. 
In pages 364, 365, 366, 406. 

NUMBER XXXI. 

A Translation of two Anecdotes, concerning the violent and im- 
perious conduct of the aforesaid Roman-Catholick Bishop 
of Quebeck, John Oliver Briand, in the exercise of his 
Episcopal authority in the said Province in the year 1774 ; 
extracted from a Letter written by a person of credit in 
the said Province to his friend at London, about the end 
of September, 1775. 

In pages 40/, 408, 409, — -411. 

NUMBER XXXII. 

Remarks on the true meaning of the words Toleration, Endow- 
ment, and Establishment, when applied to a Religion 
adopted, or permitted, in any Country. 

In pages 412 ,413, 414, 415. 

NUMBER XXXIII. 

Of True Religion, Heresy, Schism, and Toleration, and what 
best means may be used against the growth of Popery. 
First printed in the year 1.673. 

By John Milton, Esq. the author of Paradise Lost. 

In pages 41 6, 417, 418, 430. 

NUMBER XXXIV. 

The Interest of England Stated : Or, a faithful and just Ac- 
count of the Aims of all Parties now pretending. 

Printed in the year l65£)» and, probably, about the 20th of 
July. 

In pages 431, 432, 433, 454. 



XiV CONTENTS. 

NUMBER XXXV. 

The Substance of the Speech of the Earl of Selkirk, in the 
House of Lords, on Monday the 13th of April 1807, on 
the Motion of the Marquis of Stafford, that the House 
should come to a Resolution, " That this House, feeling 
the necessity of a firm and stable Government, at this most 
important crisis of publick affairs, is impressed with the 
deepest regret, at the change which has taken place m 
his Majesty's Couucils, and that such regret is greatly in- 
creased by the cause to which such change has been 
ascribed, it being the opinion of this House, that it is 
contrary to the first duties of the Ministers of the Crown 
to restrain themselves by any pledge, expressed or implied, 
from giving to his Majesty any advice, which in their 
judgement, the course of circumstances may render ne- 
cessary for the honour and security of his dominions.^ 

In pages 45 5,, 45fj, 4,57 » 467* 

KUxMBER XXXVL 

A short View of the Grounds and Principles of the glorious 
Revolution in England, in the year 1688, together with 
the Preface to the. Third Edition of the Debates in the 
English House of Commons, in the month of October, 
16*80, on (he Bill for excluding James, Duke of York, 
the Brother of King Charles the II* from the Succession to 
the Crown, on account of his having abandoned the Pro- 
testant Religion, and embraced the Religion of the Church 
of Rome; which Third Edition of the said Debates was 
published in the year 1807. 

In pages 468, 4<69 > 470, 479. 

NUMBER XXXVII. 

The Introduction prefixed to the Second Edition of the said 

Debates, which was published in the year 171 <j, under 

• the following title ; " The Curse of Popery, and Popish 



# 



CONTENTS. XV 

Princes, to the Civil Government, and Protestant .Church 
of England ; demonshated frsm the Delates of Parliament 
in l6SO, relating to the Bill of Exclusion of the then 
Duke of York ; with an Introduction, shewing the progress 
of Popery } from the Reformation to this present time, 1 7 l6 f 
In pages 480, 481, 482, 496\ 

NUMBER XXXVIII. 

An Account of the Sentiments of the Prince and Princess of 
Orange, concerning the Repeal of the Test-act in England, 
by which Papists were excluded from holding Civil and 
Military Employments ; to which Repeal they were solici- 
ted by King James the II., in the year 1687, to give their 
consent. 

Extracted from Bishop Burnet's History of his Own 
Times, Vol. 2, of the^Octavo edition, from page 
432 to page 453. 

In pages 497, 498, 490 519. 

NUMBER XXXIX. 

Another Extract from Bishop Burnet's History of his own 
Times, containing an Account of the Death of King 
Charles the II., and the Grounds for supposing that he 
wap poisoned. 

In pages 520, 521, 522, 529. 

NUMBER XL. 

The Papists Bloody Oath of Secrecy, and Litany of Interces- 
sion for England ; with the manner of their taking the 
Oath, upon their entering into any grand Conspiracy 
against the Protestants ; as it was taken in the Chapel, 
belonging to Bamlow-Hall, the residence of Sir Thomas 
Gascoigne, from William Rush ton, a Popish Priest. 
By Robert Bolron, Gentleman. 

Die Jovis, 16 Decembris, 1680. 

Ordered, That Mr. Robert Boirou have Liberty from this 



XVI CONTENTS. 

House, to print and publish the said Gath of Secrecy and 
Litany* 
London, Printed \\t the year 1680. Reprinted for S. Slow, 
and Sold over-agaiii3t Saint Clement's Church in the 
Strand, in 1745. 

In pages 531, 532, 533, 556. 

NUMBER XLI. 

SOME, a great Custom-house for Sin ; or a Table of the Dis- 
pensations and Pardons, for Villainies and Wickednesses 
©f various kinds, &c. With the several sums of money, 
given and to be paid for them. 

By Anthony Egane, B. D. sometimes Confessor- 
General of the kingdom of Ireland ; who was 
both a Spectator of, and Actor in, those horri- 
ble abuses, before his Conversion to the Protes- 
tant Religion. 
And now, [in the year 1/15,] reprinted, [being the 
Fifth Edition,] for the Benefit of such as either 
have themselves, or would induce others to 
have, too favourable thoughts of Popery. 
To which is now [in 1715,] added an earnest dissua*- 
sive from Romish Idolatry and Superstition : 
wherein other gross Enormities are clearly de- 
tected. 
London : Printed for John Marshall, at the Bible in 
Grace-church Street ; Joseph Marshall, at the 
Bible in Newgate Street ; and Ferd. Burleigh, 
in Amen Corner, 1715. 

In pages 551, 558, 559,- — *6'07. 



S 



OCCASIONAL ESSAYS 



ON 



POLITICAL SUBJECTS 



ON THE EXCLUSION OF MR. JOHN WILKES FROM HIS 
SEAT IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS, AS MEMBER FOR 
THE COUNTY OF MIDDLESEX, AFTER HIS EXPULSION 
AND RE-ELECTION. 



To the Printer of the Public Advertiser. 

SIR, March 16, 1771, 

J. cannot help being flrongly of opinion that an Acl: of 
Parliament to the following purport would tend greatly 
to allay the difcontents that have prevailed among the 
people ever fince the Middlefex election : and therefore I 
beg you would infert the following draft of fuch a bill in 
your paper. The advantages that, I conceive, would arife 
from iuare as follows. 

In the firft place, it would fecure the rights of the Electors 
of Great Britain to chufe their own representatives, from 
being controuled on any future occafion by the negative of 
a majority of the Houfe of Commons, exercifed under the 
form of an expulfion from that Houfe for fome vague and 
arbitrary crime, or defect, in the objecl: of their difpleafure, 
unknown to, and undefined by, the known laws of the land, 

B and 



and not proved with the ftrictnefs and folemnity that are deem- 
ed neceflary to the conviction and punifhment of an offence 
of the flighted nature in our criminal courts ofjuftice. The 
apprehenfion of the poffibility of fuch proceedings in time 
to come, is what alarms the generality of impartial people 
rather than an opinion that this power was really fo abufed 
in the cafe of Mr. Wilkes and the Middlefex election. To 
remove this apprehenfion is therefore an object of the laft 
importance. 

In the next place, fuch an act of parliament would con- 
firm all the proceedings of the Houfe of Commons with re- 
fpect to Mr. Wilkes on the rational and fubftantial ground of 
his being under a temporary incapacity of being elected a 
member of parliament, arifing from the circumftance of his 
being then in prifon, in execution of a fentence of the court 
of King's Bench, and confequently unable to attend his duty 
in parliament; and, by fo confirming the proceedings of the 
Commons, it would entirely preferve their honour and dig- 
nity, and make it unneceffary that they mould receed from 
any of their rcfolutions. 

I am fenfible, however, that it may here be objected 
that one of their refolutions, namely, the important refo- 
lution of Mr. Wilkes's incapacity to be a member of par- 
liament, made on the 17th day of February, 1769, and 
which is expreffed in the words following, to wit, 

"Refolved, 

" That John Wilkes, Efquire, having been in this 
feflion of parliament expelled this Houfe, was and is in- 
capable of being elected a member to ferve in this prefent 
parliament," may at flrft fight feem to be contradicted and 
overruled by the provifions of the annexed act of parlia- 
ment: but, upon a clofer examination of it, it will be 
found to be capable of a conftruction that is confiftent with 

thofe 



/ 



ihofe provifions, and even that this conftruction is the true 
and proper conftruction that ought to be given to it. This 
I (hall now endeavour to prove. 

The judgments of every court of juftice ought, if the 
words in which they are expreffed will bear it, to be cqn- 
ftrued in fuch a manner as to make them adequate and 
commenfurate to the points then under confideration in 
fuch courts, and to the authority legally vefted in the Judges 
by whom they are pronounced, rather than in fuch a man- 
ner as will make them extend to cafes not then under con- 
fideration, and which the judges therefore have not, perhaps, 
on fuch occafions a competent authority to determine. — 
This, I prefume, will readily be allowed ; and, being fo, we 
muft, in the next place, obferve, that the Houfe of Com- 
mons, when they paffed that refolution, were acting in a 
judicial, and not in a legiflative, capacity : they were deter- 
mining whether, according to the laws then in being, Mr. 
Wilkes, who had been chofen knight of the {hire for Mid- 
dlefex on the preceeding day, the 16th day of February, 
1769, was entitled, by virtue of that election, to lit and vote 
as a member of that Houfe. They did not pretend to a 
power of making him incapable of fitting thereby an ex post 
facto refolution, if he was legally capable of being elected 
to fit there at the time of fuch election 5 but only, as the 
proper judges of the validity of all parliamentary elections, 
to a power of declaring i( what the law then was reflecting 
his capacity to be fo elected _:" they therefore had no right to 
confider, nor to give judgment upon, any other point, but 
that of his capacity to be elected a member of parliament 
for the county of Middlefex, on the faid 16th day of Fe- 
bruary, 1769. No other point was judicially before them : 
and, if they had clearly and expreffly refolved, that Mr. 
Wilkes was not only then incapable of being elected a 
member of parliament, but that fuch incapacity would 
continue in him during this whole parliament,, they would, 

s % in 



4 

in this fecond part of fuch refolution, have acted in an extra- 
judicial manner, and without a competent authority ; and 
fuch a decifion would have been entitled to but little regard 
either from themfelves on any fubfequent occafion, or from 
any other perfon. But this they have not done in their 
refolution of the 17th of February, 1 769, above recited, 
though at firft fight it may feem to carry that meaning ; for 
the words of it are, " that he was and is incapable of being 
elected a member to ferve in this prefent parliament ; that is, 
as I conceive, he was at the time of his election on the pre 
ceding day, the 16th of February, 1769, and is at the time 
then prefent, namely, the 17th day of February, incapable 
of being elected a member of parliament. It does not fay 
that he (hall or will continue fo during the whole conti- 
nuance of this parliament, which was a point not then 
under confideration. 

As to the words, " having been in this feffion of par- 
liament expelled this Houfe," which immediately precede 
the words that declare his incapacity, they are introduced 
only by way of recital, and are not faid to be the ground of 
the fubfequent adjudication cf incapacity, and need not ne- 
cefTarily be understood fo ; but they ought rather to be con- 
fidered as a fhort reference to the grounds and reafons upon 
which he was expelled, fome of which werclikewife caufes 
of an incapacity to be elected ; and fo the meaning of the 
whole refolution will be as follows : " Whereas Mr, 
Wilkes was expelled from the Houfe of Commons in this 
feffion of parliament, to wit, on the 3d of February, 
3769, upon divers good and fufficient grounds and reafons^ 
fome of which were not only good grounds for expelling him, 
but did really and truly, if they had been properly attended 
to, render him incapable of being legally elected a member 
of this parliament; and whereas thefe reafons, that thus 
rendered him incapable of being legally elected a member 
of parliament, do ftill fubfift ', it is therefore refolved and 

adjudged 



adjudged by this Houfe, that he was at the time of his laft 
election, to wit, on the 16th day of February, 1769, and 
dill is at this prefent time, to wit, on the 17th of February, 
1769, incapable of being elected a member to ferve in this 
prefent parliament. " 

This feems to me to be a reafonable conftru&ion of this 
famous refolution : and if the words of it will bear this fenfe, 
as I flatter myfelf I have mown they will, it is furely better 
to understand them in this manner than to interpret them 
in the other manner above-mentioned, and thereby to make 
them, byconftru&ion, contain a dangerous and extra-judicial 
refolution of the Houfe of Commons in a matter of fuch 
high importance, which would be no way fuitable to the 
dignity of the Houfe, or to the character of wife and con- 
siderate judges that were giving a judicial determination of 
the point that was then before them. 

Now, if this mild and inorTeniive interpretation of this 
refolution be allowed to be juft, there will be nothing in the 
a& of parliament here recommended in any degree contrary 
to this or any other of the refolutions of the Houfe of Com- 
mons upon this fubjecl. This is a fecond advantage in the 
bill here propofed. 

A third advantage arifing from t would he the removing 
of all the ridiculous doubts andopinions that have been enter- 
tained concerning the capacity of an Outlaw to (it and vote 
in parliament ; notwithstanding he is a creature that, as 
Mr. Wilkes has well obferved, has no political exiftence, 
but is liable to have all his goods and chattels, and the 
rents and profits of his lands, taken into the king's hands, 
as forfeited to his Majefty by the outlawry, and his body 
kept in prifon during life. No well- wifber to the liberties of 
his country would, I prefume, defire to fee the reprefenta- 
fcives of the Commons of thib kingdom compofed of perfoas 
in fuch dependent circumftances. 

And if, after fuch an a& of parliament, colonel Luttrel 

B 3 fhould 



6 

mould think proper to vacate his feat in parliament by ac- 
cepting the ftewardfhip of the Chiltern Hundreds, and Mr. 
Wilkes, now that his outlawry has been reverfed, and his 
confequent Incapacity to fit in Parliament has been re- 
moved, (hould again ftand for the county of Middlefex, 
and again be chofen their reprefentative by a great majority, 
(as I truft and hope he would ;) and fhould be permitted to 
take his feat in the Houfe in confequence of fuch new 
election, I conceive that the whole tranfa&ion would do his 
Majefty's minifters great honour, give general fatisfaftion 
to the people, and, in fhort, prove a happy means of recon- 
ciling men's minds to government, and of winding-up 
this unlucky bufinefs that has kept the whole nation in a 
ferment, and foured our old Englifh good- humour for more 
than two years paft. 

I am, Sir, 

Your humble Servant, 

IRENICUS. 



Draft of an ASi of Parliament to difable Outlaws and Per- 
fons legally confined, in Prifon from being chofen Members 
of the Commons Houfe of Parliament', and to fecure to the. 
Freeholders and other Eleclors of Great Britain their Right 
of free Eleclioii, notwithflanding anjy antecedent Expuljion 
of the Perfons they fb all elect for their Members. 

Whereas certain doubts have arifen, and may arife, 
concerning perfons confined in prifon in execution of the 
judgements of a court of law, or for other juft and lawful 
caufes, and likewife concerning perfons outlawed, whether 

thev 



they are capable of being elected to fit and vote In parliament 
as members of the Commons Houfe of parliament : and 
whereas it would be highly inconvenient and prejudicial to 
the pubiick bufinefs tranfacled in the faid Houfe of parlia- 
ment that fuch perfons mould be chofen members of it, 
becaufe they would not be able to attend their duty in the 
fame ; and the counties, cities, and boroughs, for which they 
fhould be chofen, would thereby be unreprefented in parlia- 
ment during the continuance of fuch impediment to their at- 
tendance ; it is therefore declared and enacted by the King's 
mod excellent Majefty, by and with the advice and confent 
of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and the Commons in 
this prefent parliament aflembled, that no perfon outlawed 
in due courfe of law, either upon a criminal or a civil pro- 
fecution, nor any perfon legally confined in prifon in exe- 
cution of any judgement of a court of juftice, ought at any 
time heretofore to have been deemed, or mall at any time 
hereafter be deemed, to be capable of being elected to ferve 
in the Britifti Houfe of Commons, as a member thereof, for 
any county, city, or borough, in either England, Wales, 
or Scotland, during the continuance of fuch outlawry or 
legal confinement. Any cuftom, refolution of the Houfe of 
Commons, precedent, or opinion, or other thing, to the 
contrary hereof in any wife notwithstanding. 

And whereas great difcontents have arifen in the minds 
of many of his Majefty's faithful fubjects on account of a 
refolution of the Commons Houfe of parliament pafFed on 
the 17th day of February, in the year of our Lord 1769, 
declaring John Wilkes, Efq. who had, on the 28th day of 
March, in the year 1768, been duly chofen and returned a 
knight of the (hire to ferve in this prefent parliament for the 
county of Middlefex, and afterwards on the 3d day of Fe- 
bruary, in the year 1769, had been expelled from the 
iaid Commons Houfe of parliament by a majority of the 

B 4 members 



8 

members thereof, and then on the 16th day of the fame 
month of February, had been again duly elected and re- 
turned a knight of the fhire to ferve in this prefent parlia- 
ment for the faid county ; to have been at the time of the 
re-ele&ion, and to be ftill at the time of paffing the faid 
refolution, incapable of being elected a member to ferve in 
the faid parliament ; from which refolution many perfons 
have concluded that the faid Commons Houfe of parlia- 
ment meant to declare that his faid incapacity of being 
chofen a member of the faid Houfe of parliament arofe 
merely from his faid expulfion from the fame, and not from 
the circumftance of his being at that time legally confined in. 
prifon in execution of a judgement of the court of King's 
Bench for having publifned two criminal writings, and his 
confequent inability to attend his duty, and ferve his con- 
flituents in parliament, though this had been mentioned as 
a principal ground for his expulfion : — and whereas it would 
be an unneceflary reftraint upon the exercife of the right of 
election in the freeholders and other electors of Great 
Britain^ and would greatly diminifh the value of that import- 
ant franchife, if they were to be precluded from freely 
choofing for their reprefentatives in parliament any perfons 
that they fhall think worthy of fo high a truft, and efteem 
beft qualified to ferve them, who are not rendered incapable 
thereof bv fome known and general law, or fome pofitive 
act of parliament in that behalf made and provided : IT IS 
therefore enacted by the King's moft excellent Majefty, 
by and with the advice and confent of the Lords Spiritual 
and Temporal, and the Commons in this prefent parlia- 
ment afTembled, that no expulfion of any member of the 
Commons Houfe of parliament by the faid Houfe, whether 
already pafTed, or hereafter to be made or done, fhall be 
conftrued, or taken to have created, or to create, any inca- 
pacity 



pacity in the perfon fo expelled to be again chofen into the 
faid Commons Houfe of parliament, either for the fame 
place for which he had been chofen before, or for any 
other : but the perfon fo expelled (hall remain capable of 
being re-eleded to fit in the fame parliament ; and, if he 
fhall be fo re-elected either for the fame or any other place, 
and he be otherwife duly qualified to be chofen according to 
the knows laws of the land, he mail fit and vote in the faid 
Commons Houfe of parliament in the fame manner as if 
fuch expulfion had never happened, or he had then been 
chofen a member thereof for the firft time.* 



* Though no Act of Parliament of the kind here recommended has 
ever been passed, yet the Resolution of the House of Commons, 
formed on the 17th of February, 1769, for excluding Mr. Wilkes 
from his seat in the House after his expulsion from it, on the pre- 
ceeding 3d day of February, and his Re-election on the 16th by the 
freeholders of the county of Middlesex, to wit, " That John 
"Wilkes, Esquire, having been, in this session of Parliament, ex- 
" pelled this House, was and is incapable of being elected a member 
** to serve in this present Parliament," was afterwards rescinded by a 
subsequent House of Commons, in the spring of the year 1782, 
when Lord North retired from his offices of First Lord of the Treasury 
and Chancellor of the Exchequer, and was succeeded in the former 
of those offices by the Marquis of Rockingham, and the Earl of 
Shelburne was made Secretary of State. It seems reasonable, therefore, 
to conclude, " That, as the law now stands, an expulsion of a 
** Member of the House of Commons by the House, does not render 
44 the person expelled incapable of being elected again to serve in the 
" same parliament." 

F.ML 



A PRO- 



w 



A PROPOSAL FOR A RECONCILIATION WITH THE RE- 
VOLTED PROVINCES OF NORTH AMERICA, WITHOUT 
EXEMPTING THEM FROM THE AUTHORITY OF THE 
BRITISH PARLIAMENT. 



In the Year 1^7 5 » 



IN the firft place, to repeal the Quebeck-Act, and thereby 
je-eftablifh the King's proclamation of October, 1 763, with 
yefpecl: to the province of Quebeck, and reduce the extent of 
the faid province to what it was before the late Quebeck-Act y 
er, perhaps, (if it fhall be thought neceflary, upon a full in- 
quiry into the matter by the teftimony of Sea-officers ac- 
quainted with Newfoundland, and the Gulf of Saint Law- 
rence, and the fifheries carried-on in thofe parts, and by 
the teftimony of merchants acquainted with the fame fub- 
jects,) to enlarge the former extent of the province of Que- 
beck, as fettled by the proclamation of October, 1763, by 
the addition of the coaft of Labrador, which, by the faid 
proclamation, was made part of the government of New- 
foundland ; but, by no means, to pat all the interiour part 
of North-America into the province of Quebeck. 

Secondly. — After thus repealing the Quebeck- Act, and 
reviving the King's proclamation of October, ]763, and 
reducing the province of Quebeck to a reafonable and mode- 
rate extent, capable of being governed by an AfFembly, in 
purfuance of the promife in the faid Royal proclamation, 
To afcertain the laws of the province. This mould be 
done by exprefsly mentioning and confirming the Petition 
of Right, the Habeas Carpus Act, the Bill, or Declaration 

of 



11 

of Rights, made in thefirft year of the reign of King William 
and Queen Mary, and perhaps a few other ftatutes that are 
Angularly beneficial and favourable to the liberty of the fub- 
ject, and then by confirming, in general terms, the reft of the 
laws of England, both criminal and civil, excepting the penal 
laws againft the exercife of the Popifh religion, which 
mould be declared to be (what they have always been un- 
der ftood to be,) utterly null and void with refpe£fc to that 
province; and excepting, alfo, the laws relating to the 
tenures of land, the manner of conveying it, and the laws of 
dower and inheritance, at leaft with refpect to the children 

of marriages already contracted, or which fliall be con- 
es j * 

tracked before a given future day, and declaring, that upon 
thefe fubje&s the former French laws of the province fhould 
be in force. 

But the laws of England, which difqualify Papifts from 
holding places of truft and profit, ought ftill to be conti- 
nued in the province, though the penal laws mould be 
abolifhed ; the former laws being not laws of perfecution, 
but of felf-defence. Yet the King might, if he pleafed, 
extend his bounty to thofe people who figned the French 
petition, and to fuch other perfons of the Roman-Catholick 
religion, as he thought fit, by granting them pennons. 

Alfo, it would be proper to abolifh the feigneurial Jurif- 
dicYions in Canada, for the fatisfaction of the great body 
of the freeholders of the province. If this cannot be done 
confidently with juftice, and the terms of the capitulation 
granted by Sir JefTeryAmherft, in September, i760,without 
giving the feigniors a pecuniary compensation for the lofs 
of thefe jurifdi&ions, (though I incline to think it might,) 
fuch pecuniary compenfations ought to be given them. 
The expence of a week's extraordinaries to the army at 
Bofton would be more than fufficient to make thefe compen- 
fations in a large and ample manner. 

Thirdly. 



12 

Thirdly. — Having thus afcertained the laws of the: 
province of Quebeck, it would be proper to provide for the 
convenient adminiftration of juftice in it, either by adopt- 
ing the plan fet-forth above, in pages 343, 359, or forne 
other that (hall be thought fitter for the purpofe. 

Fourthly. — To provide a competent legislature for the* 
province of Quebeck. The bed ltgiflature that could be 
provided for it would, as I believe, be a Proteftant AfTembly 
ehofen by the freeholders of the country, whether Pro- 
teftants or Roman-Catholicks. The next beft, I mould be 
inclined to think, would be a Legiflative Council, confifting 
of Protectants only, (fuch as is propofed in the draught of an 
Act of Parliament, contained in the Account of the Pro- 
ceedings of the Britijh and other ProteJIant inhabitants of 
the province of Quebeck in North- America in order to obtain 
a hozife of Affembly in that province, lately publijhed and 
fold hy B. White in Fleet '-Street,} to be eftabliihed for only 
feven years ; in which all the members fhould be made 
independent of the Governor, fo as to be neither re- 
moveable nor fufpendible hy him upon any occafion what- 
foever, though they might be removed by the King^ 
by his order in his Privy Council. They fhould be 
thirty-one in number, or perhaps more ; and fhould all 
fign the ordinances for which they gave their votes, and 
fhould be paid forty (hillings each, every time they attended 
the meetings of the Council, in order to induce them to at- 
tend in confiderable numbers ; as the Juftices of the Peace 
in England are intitled to a pecuniary allowance for attend- 
ing the Quarter-Seffions of the Peace, and the Directors of 
the Eaft-India Company, for attending the meetings upon 
the affairs of the Company, and the members of the Houfc 
of Commons are intitled to wages from their conftituents 
attending Parliament, though now they forbear demanding 
them. But they fhould receive no general falaries from the 
Crown, not depending upon their attendances ; as fuch a 

practice 



13 

practice can tend to nothing but to make them dependent on 
the Crown, and contemptible in the eyes of the people 
.Next to fuch a legiflative Council, confiding of Protefiants 
only, a general AfTembly of the people, confiding of Pro- 
pedants and Papids indiscriminately, feems the mod proper 
legislature for the province. And to the edablifhment of 
fuch an AfTembly but few objections can now be made ; 
iincc the Englifh fettlers in the province, on the one hand, 
have declared that they are willing to acquiefce in the eda- 
blifhment of fuch an AfTembly ; and the King .and Par- 
liament, on the other hand, (by pafiingthe Quebeck-Aft, and 
permitting Roman- Catholicks to hold all forts of ofEces s 
feats in the legiflative council of the province, judicial offi- 
ces, and even military commiffions,) have declared that they 
confider the old opinion, "that Roman Catholicks were not 
fit perfons to be inveded with authority under the Britifh 
Government," as ill-grounded with refpect to the province 
of Quebeck. For certainly, if there is any hardfhip in ex- 
cluding Papifts from holding places of trud and profit in the 
province, there is a dill greater hardfhip in excluding them 
from being chofen members of an AfTembly of the province. 
Fifthly. — To repeal the Bodon-charter Act \ and to 
pafs a refolution in both Houfes of Parliament, that for the 
future, no charter of any American colony fliall be taken - 
away, or altered in any point, by the Britifh Parliament, 
without, either on the one hand, a Petition for that pur- 
pofe, to the two Houfes of Parliament, or to the King's 
Majedy, from the AfTembly of fuch colony, whofe charter is 
propofed to be either taken away or altered, or, on the other 
hand, a fuit at law, by a writ of Scire facias, to repeal 
the faW charter, regularly earried-on in the Court of Chan- 
cery in England, upon a charge offome abufeof the powers 
of the said charter, by the people of fuch colony, or of 
fome other mifdemeanour committed by them, which may 

be 



14 



be a legal ground of forfeiture of the fame, and a judges 
ment of forfeiture pronounced in confequence of fuch iuit 
after a full hearing of the fame, and alfo a re-hearing in 
Parliament of the charges in the faid fuit, and of the proofs 
brought in fupport of them, and of the arguments which 
may be alledged both for and againft the faid colonies by 
Counfel, and an approbation and confirmation of fuch 
judgement of forfeiture by both Houfes of Parliament in 
confequence of the faid re-hearing of the whole matter. 

Such a refolution of the two Houfes of Parliament would 
give the Americans a ftrong moral affurance that the pri- 
vileges granted them by their charters would not be lightly 
and wantonly altered for the future upon the hafty fuggef- 
tions of men little acquainted with their hiftory and con- 
dition, and whofe notions of Government are very differ- 
ent from their own. 

Sixthly. — To repeal the trial-act, for trying Officers 
or Soldiers, who {hall be indicted for murder in the Maf- 
fachufet's bay, in others of the American provinces, or in 
England. This Act, I am perfuaded, was intended only 
for the purpofes of juftice, and to procure a fair trial to 
the officers and foldiers who fhould happen to be indicted 
for actions done by them in the courfe of their duty as 
amftants to the civil magiftrate in the execution of the 
laws, and not to fcreen them from punifhment when they 
were really guilty of murder, or had occafioned the death 
of his Majefty's fubjects in that province without fuch 
juft and lawful caufe. And I am further perfuaded that, 
in fact, it would not fcreen them from punifhment, when 
the charge was fupported by proper teftimony ; but that 
the Juries that fhould try thefe indictments, whether in 
England or in America, would readily convict fuch officers 
and foldiers of murder, if they were really guilty of it, 
and proved to be fo by fufficient evidence. But the diffi- 

cultv 



15 



cully of procuring the witneffes to the facts to come acrofs 
the Atlantick ocean to give evidence concerning them, is fo 
great that it may almoft be confidered as unfurmountable ; 
and consequently this method of trying thofe offences may 
be reckoned to be impracticable, notwithstanding the 
fpirit of jultice and impartiality by which the Juries would 
probably be governed. And for this reafon the Act ought 
to be repealed. However, as this Act is only a temporary 
•one, and will expire of itfelf in two years, it is a matter 
of much lefs confequence than the Quebeck Act and the 
Act for altering the charter of the Maffachufet's bay. Thofe 
are the Acts which have brought-on this civil war, and 
whieh, I apprehend, muft be totally repealed before peace 
can be reftored. 

Seventhly. — To pafs a refolution of both Houfes of 
Parliament, that, for the future, no tax or duty of any 
kind mall be impofed by authority of the Parliament of 
Great-Britain, upon his Majefty's fubjects refiding in 
thofe provinces of North-America, in which aflemblies 
of the people are eftablifhed, until the faid provinces fhall 
have been permitted to fend reprefentatives to the Britifh 
Parliament : excepting only fuch taxes or duties upon, 
goods exported out of, and imported into, the faid pro- 
vinces as fhall be thought neceflary for the regulation of 
the trade of the faid provinces ; and that, when fuch taxes, 
or duties, fhall be laid by the Britifh Parliament on any 
of the faid provinces, the whole amount of the fame fhall 
be difpofed-of by the Aflemblies of the provinces in which 
they fhall be collected, refpectively. 

Eighthly. — That all the quit-rents, and other royal 
dues, collected in the provinces of America, fhall be ap- 
propriated to the maintenance of the civil governments in 
the fame, and fhall be employed in the payment of the 
falaries of the Governors, and Judges, and Sheriffs, or 

Provoft- 



16 

Provofl-Marfhalls, and Coroners, and other offices of Juflice 
in the fame, fo as to lefTen the taxes which it may be 
neceflary for the Governors, Councils, and AiTemblies of 
the faid provinces to lay on the inhabitants of the fame for 
the faid purpofe : and that a feparate receiver and collector 
of the ikid quit-rents and other royal dues, be appointed 
by the^veral Governors of the faid provinces reflectively 
in every feparate province, who {hall hold his faid office 
during the pleafure of the Governor of the province to 
which he fhall belong, and his refidence in the faid pro- 
vince, and no lojiger, and who fhall receive and enjoy fuch 
falary, or fees, or other emoluments, during his continuance 
in his faid office, as fhall be allowed by an Act of the 
Governor, Council, and AfTembly of the faid province. 
But the portions of the faid quit-rents that (hall be affigned 
to the Governor, and Judges, and other officers of civil 
government in the faid provinces refpe&ively, fhall be fuch 
as his Majeily, in his royal wifdom, fhall think fit to ap- 
point. 

Alfo it mould be provided that no Governor, Judge, or 
other officer of the civil government of any fuch province, 
fhould receive any part of the falaries arifing from thofe 
quit-rents, or other royal dues, during the time of his abfence 
from the faid province, or after his return to the province, 
in consideration of his having held the faid office during 
fuch abfence; but that fo much of his faid falary, arifing 
from the faid quit- rents and other royal dues, as would have 
accrued to him in the faid fpace of time, if he had refided 
during the fame in the faid province, fhall be deemed to be 
forfeited by his faid abfence, and fhall make a part of the 
publick treafure of the province, and be difpofed-of by the 
joint Act of the Governor, Council, and AfTembly of the 
faid province. 

The amount of thefe quit-rents and other royal dues in 

America 



1? 

America fliould be made good to his Majefty but of the 
finking-fund. 

Ninthly. — -The offices of Secretary of the province , 
clerk of the Council, Regifter of deeds and patents, or clerk 
of the inrolments of deeds and patents, Provofl-marfhal, dr 
fheriff, Commiflary of (lores, Receivers-general of the king's 
revenue, Coroners, clerks, or regiftersj of the courts of juftice, 
Naval officer, Collector of the cuftoms, Comptroller of the 
cuftoms, in every province, fliould be given to perfons reft- 
dent in the province, to be executed by themfelveSj without 
a power of making deputies ; and the fees to be taken by 
them fhould be fettled by Acts of the Governour, Council^ 
and aflembly of the faicl province, in which they are hoi- 
den ; and they fhould be holden during the pleafure of 
the Governour, or of the King, as his Majefty, in his royal 
wifdom, (hall think fit, but fhould never be given by patents 
under the great feal of Great-Britain, to be holden during 
the lives of the patentees ; and thev fhould be holden by 
fcparate officers, lb that no two of them fhould be holden by 
the fame perfon. 

The prefent patentees of any of thefe offices mould have 
compenfations made to them for the lofs of their patents 
by pennons for their lives payable out of the finking-fund* 

Tenthly/. — In the governments called Royal Govern- 
Orients, (which are carried-on by virtue of the King's com- 
miffions only, without charters,) the Councils of the faid 
provinces fhould be made more numerous than they now 
are, and the members of them fliould be appointed for" 
life. They now ufually confift of twelve members, all of 
Whom may be removed at the pleafure of the crown, and 
fufpertded from the execution of their offices of counfellors^ 
by the Goverrtours of the province, till the pleafure of the 
Crown can be knowm This renders them of little weight 
and confequence in the eyes of the people, and confe- 
quently of little advantage to the Governour in fupporting 
hi> "ijefty's authority, and preferving the peace of the 



18 

province. It would therefore be proper to enlarge their 
number to at lea ft 23 members, and, in the more populous 
provinces to a greater number, (in Virginia, perhaps, to 43,) 
of whom. at leaft 12 mould be neceflary to make aboard, and 
do bufinefs ; and it would alfo be proper to appoint them for 
life or during their good behaviour, fo that they could not be 
removed from their faid offices without a charge of fome 
mifconducl: that mall be a fufficient ground for removing 
them from the faid office, and a proof and conviction of 
the fame in a trial by jury upon a writ of scire facias to 
repeal the patent by which they had been appointed to fuch 
office, or fome other law-proceeding analogous to fuch 
writ. This numerous council mould be the Legiflative 
Council of the province, and mould concur with the 
AfTembly in making laws. But, for the executive part of 
government, the King might appoint a lefler Council 
confiding of not fewer than 12 perfons, who fliould advife 
the Govemour in all thofe matters relative to the execution 
of the powers of his commiffion, in which he was directed 
by his commiffion to act with the advice of his Council. 
And feven members of this Council mould be neceflary 
to make a board, or do bufinefs. The members of this 
Council mould hold their places at the pleafure of the 
Crown, as tbe King's privy Counsellors do in England ; 
but mould not be removeable or fufpendible by the Go- 
vemour. They might either be fome of the members of the 
greater, or legiflative, Council, or not, as his Majefty, in 
his royal wifdom, mould think fit. 

This measure, " of making the members of the legiflative 
councils more numerous than they now are, and independent 
of the Crown, in order to give them more weight and dig- 
nity in the eyes of the people, and thereby to render them 
more capable of being ufeful in the fupport of his Majefty's 
government," is recommended by fome of the warmeft 
iends of Great-Britain in North-America \ of which I will 

mention 



19 

mention an inftance or two. In the year 1774 a very fen- 
fible pamphlet was publifhed by Thomas Cadell, in the 
Strand, entitled, "Confederations on certain Political Tranf- 
acHons of the Province of South-Carolina" This pamphlet 
has been generally afcribed to Sir Egerton Leigh, baronet, 
his Majefty's attorney-general for that province. But, 
whofoever the author of it may be, he appears to be a per- 
fon well acquainted with the affairs of America, and more 
efpecially of that province, and a zealous friend to the 
interefts of Great-Britain in America, and to the con- 
tinuance of an amicable connection between the two coun- 
tries, upon the old footing of a fubjection of them both to 
the authority of the Britifh Parliament. In pages 68, 69, 
70, of this pamphlet there is the following paffage. " In 
" my apprehenfion it feems abfolutely necefTary, that the 
<c numbers of the Council mould be increafed ; and for this 
" plain and obvious reafon, Becaufe a body of Twenty-four 
" Counfellors, for inftance, appointed by the King from the 
" firft rank of the People moft diftinguifhed for their wealth, 
" merit, and ability, would be a means of difTuling a confi- 
<f derable influence through every order of perfons in the 
" community, which mud extend very far and wide, by 
xi means of their particular connections ; whereas a Council 
" of Twelve, feveral of whom are always abfent, can have 
€C little weight, nor can their voices be heard amidft the cla- 
te mour of prevailing numbers. 

" I think this body, acting leg i datively, ought to be made 
"independent, by holding that ftation during the term of 
" their natural lives, and determinable only on that event, or 
€c on their intire departure from the province. But the fame 
ts perfon might neverthelefs, for proper caufe, be difplaced 
cc from his feat in Council ; which regulation would, in a 
<f great meafure, operate as a check to an arbitrary Gover- 
lt nour, who would be cautious how he raifed a powerful 
st enemy in the Upper Houfe by a rafh removal 5 at the fame 

c % time 



20 

u time mat the power of removal would keep the Member 
'* within proper bounds. The life-tenure of his legiflative 
" capacity would likewife fufficiently fecure that indepen- 
" dency which is fo necefTary to this ftation, and fo agree- 
* able to the conftitutioh of the Parent-State. I know fome 
ei folks will raife both fcruples and fears ; but for my own 
u part, I think without much reafon : for, if we attend to 
*• the workings of human nature, we (hall find, that a cer- 
a tain degree of attachment commonly arifes to the fountain 
" from whence an independent honour flows. Opposition 
il feldom fettles upon the perfons who are raifed to dignity 
(C by favour of the Crown, it having fo much the appearance 
" of Ingratitude^ one of the mod: detefted vices ; and it ever 
" acts a faint and languid part, till a defcent or two are pair, 
cc and the author of the elevation is extinct. From this rea- 
" foiling it feems tolerably clear to me, that the Legiflator, 
€t being for life, and deriving his confequence from the 
" Crown, v. Ill rather incline to that fcale; and it is not 
" probable that his oppofition would in any inftance be ran- 
" cprous or factious ; inafmuch as, though his life-eftate is 
(: fecure, he would not wim unnecerTarily to excite the re- 
ii fentment of the Crown, or exclude his defendants or con- 
" nections, perhaps, from fucceeding afterwards to fuch a 
<c peft of honour and diftinction in their native country : in 
" fhort, this idea feems to admit fuch a qualified dependency ', 
" as will attach the perfon to the fide of the Crown in that 
" proportion which the conftitution itfelf allows, and yet fo 
«•' much real independency , as will make him fuperior to acts 
" of meannefs, fervility, and opprefilon. Whether thefe 
" fentiments are well-founded, or not, I fubmit to the impar- 
" tial judgement of my reader) what I principally mean to 
6t infer is, that the happinefs of thefe colonies much de- 
6( pends upon a due blending, or mixture, of power and 
* f dependence, and in preferving a proper' fubordination of 
«< rank and civil discipline." 

And 



21 

And in pages 72 and 73 pf the fame pamphlet, there is 
another paflage, beginning with the words, " I cannot clofe 
this fubject, See." down to the words, "found principles of 
the Englijb covflitution" p. 73. 1. II, that is worthy of the 
reader's attention. And the late Mr. Andrew Oliver, (who 
was, firft, Secretary, and afterwards Lieutenant-governour, of 
the province of the MafTachufets Bay,) in one of his letters to 
the late Mr. Thomas Whately, (who had been (Secretary to 
the treafury under the late Mr. George Grenville,) dated 
Feb. 13, 1769, writes as follows. " You obferve upon 
f 6 two defects in our conftitwtion, the popular election of 
ff. the Council, and the return of Juries by the towns. The 
i( firft of thefe arifes from the charter itfelf; the latter from 
f* our provincial laws. As jto the appointment of the 
" Council, I am of opinion that neither the pppular elec- 
" tions in this province, nor their appointment (in what 
ce are called the royal governments) by the King's man- 
"■ damus, are free from exceptions •, especially if the Council, 
(i as a legiflative body, is intended to anfwer the idea of 
" the Houfe of Lords in the Britifh legiflature. There they 
(c are fuppofed to be a free and independant body ; and on 
" their being fuch, the ftrength and firmnefsof the Conftitu- 
<{ tion does very much depend: whereas the election, or ap- 
u pointment of the Councils in the manner before-mention- 
i( ed, renders them altogether dependant on their conftitp- 
f* ents. The King is the Fountain of Honour .; and, as fuch, 
c( the Peers of the realm derive their honours from him. But 
." then they hold them by a furer tenure than the Pro- 
" vincial Counfellors, who are appointed by mandamus,, 
*' On the other hand, our popular elections very often expofe 
" them to contempt : for nothing is more common than for 
fi the Reprefentatives, when they find the Council a littje 
" untractable at the clofe of the year, to remind them that 
# May is at hand. It is not requifite, that I know 
If of, that a Counfellor mould be a freeholder, Accord- 

c 3 "ingr 



22 



cc ing to the charter, his residence is a fufficient qualification : 
€S for that provides only that he be an inhabitant of, or 
" proprietor of lands within, the diftricl: for which he is 
" chofen : whereas the peers of the realm fit in the Houfe of 
§t Lords, (as 1 take it,) in virtue of their baronies. If 
" there fhould be a reform of any of the colony- charters, 
n with a view to keep-up the refemblance of the three 
u eftates in England, the legiflative Council mould confift 
u of men of landed eftates. But, as our landed eftates 
f * here are fmall at prefent, the yearly value of £. ioo 
cc RtrYingpe?- annum might, in fome of them at leaft, be a 
" fufficient qualification. As our eftates are partible after 
<e the deceafe of the proprietor, the honour could not be 
ce continued in families, as in England. It might, however, 
" be continued in the perfon appointed quamdiu fe ben& 
" g e JJ erit i an< ^ proof might be required of fome mal-prac- 
te tice before a fufpenfion, or removal. Bankruptcy, alfo, 
cc might be another ground for removal." — " The King 
w might have the immediate appointment [of thcfe couri- 
€C fellors] by ?nandamus 9 as at prefent in the royal govern- 
" merits." — " Befides this legiflative council, a privy courK 
'« cil might be eftablifhed." Thefe authorities are furely 
very refpe&able, and of prodigious weight in favour of fuch 
an amendment of the conftitutions of the King's Councils 
iii North- America. Alterations of thofe governments in 
favour of liberty, that are fuggefted and recommended by 
fuch friends to Great-Britain as the authors of the foregoing 
pafTages, feem to be indifputably reafonablc, and expedient, 
and fit to be adopted by Great-Britain. 

Eleventhly. — To declare, by refolutions in both 
Houfes of Parliament, that it is not expedient to require the 
American colonies to contribute any thing toward the dis- 
charge of the national debt already contracted, in any mode 
whatfoever, either by taxes to be impofed by the Britifh 

Parliament 



23 

Parliament or by grants in their own affemblies, or in 
any other manner whatfoever ; but only that it is juft 
that they mould contribute in a reafonable proportion, 
fiuted to their several abilities, to the future expences of the 
Britifh empire, that are of a general nature, and relate to 
all the dominions of the Grown, and of which they reap 
the benefit, as well as the inhabitants of Great-Britain. 

Twelfthly. — To offer an act of pardon, indemnity, 
and oblivion to all the Americans who have offended the 
laws, upon their laying-down their arms, and returning to 
the obedience of the Crown within a limited time : with- 
out making any exceptions whatfoever, not even of Mr, 
Samuel Adams and Mr. Hancook. 

By fuch a plan the principal caufes of uneafinefs and dif- 
content amongft the Americans would, as I conceive, be 
taken-away ; and, consequently, if they are fincere in their 
declarations of a defire to continue connected with Great- 
Britain, (as it feems highly probable that all the Colonies, ex- 
cept thofe of New-England, are \ and, perhaps, even in thofe 
colonies, there may be many perfons of the fame difpo- 
iition 5) it feems reasonable to hope that it would be gene- 
rally approved and accepted by them \ and yet the fupreme 
authority of the Parliament of Great-Britain would not be 
given- up. 

F.M. 



G4 



24 



ON THE INEXPEDIENCY OF ESTABLISHING BISHOPS, 
IN NORTH AMERICA. 



To the Printer of the Public Advertiser. 



SIR, March 24, 1778. 

I some days ago obferved that it feemed to be neceflary,, 
in the prefent happy difpofition of the miniftry to meafures. 
of Conciliation, to remove the apprehenfions of the Ameri- 
cans concerning the eftablifh merit of Bifhops amongft them 
by the authority of the Csown, or of the Parliament. This 
meafure I recommended, as being effentiaj to the fuccefs 
of the intended treaty with America ; there being no rea- 
fon to expect that the Americans will ever return to the 
allegiance of the Crown without a full fecurity in this im- 
portant article. As a proof of their anxiety upon this 
fubjeel:, I will now cite a pafTage from one of their publick 
papers, written fo long ago as the year 1768, when few 
perfons, either there or in this country, could imagine 
that the difTenfions then fubfifting between the two coun- 
tries would in fo (hort a time have rifen to their prefent 
dreadful height. And we may well fuppofe, that what 
they then were anxious to obtain, they will not now re- 
ceed-from. In the publick letter of the Houfe of Reprefenta- 
tives of the province of MafTachufetts Bay, in the month 
of January, 1768, to Mr. Dennis De Berdt, who was at 
that time their agent in England, (which is, indeed, a moft 
able performance, and well worthy every gentleman's peru- 
fal; fee Almon's Remembrancer, number 34, page 167, 
and feq.) there is the following pafTage : 

" The eftablifhment of a Proteftant Epifcopate in 
fC America is alfo very zealoufly contended^-for. And it 
" is very alarming to a people, whofe fathers, from the 

"• hardfhips 



25 

* 6 hardihips they fuffered under fuch an eftabliftiment, 
* c were obliged to fly from their native country into a 
ie wildernefs, in order peaceably to enjoy their privileges s 
" civil and religious. Their being; threatened with the 
" lofs of both at once muft throw them into a very difa- 
<e greeable fituation. We hope in God fuch an establifh- 
" ment will never take place in America; and we defire 
" you will ftrenuoufly oppofe it. The revenue raifed in 
" America, for aught we can tell, may be as conftituti- 
<c onally applied towards the fupport of Prelacy as of foldi- 
(e ers and penfioners, If the property of the fubjecl: is 
" taken from him without his confent, it is immaterial 
ie whether it be done by one man or five hundred, or 
" whether it be applied for the fupport of Ecclefiaftical or 
6i Military power, or both. It may be well worth the 
i( confideration of the bed politician in Great-Britain or 
" America, what the natural tendency is of a vigorous 
" purfuit of thefe meafures." This palfage, I prefume, 
is a fafficient proof of the dread and averfionthe Americans 
entertain for the eftabliftiment of Epifcopacy amongft them. 
Nor were they apprehenfive without reafon that fuch a 
meafure was in agitation. For, in the firft place, when the 
Britim parliament patted the act for impofing a flamp-duty 
in America, in the year 1765, they enumerated, amongft the 
written inftruments that were made liable to pay that duty, 
the feveral inftruments of Ecclefiaftical law which are ufed in 
the courts of Ecclefiaftical, or Epifcopal, jurifdiction here 
in England, as Citations, Monitories, fentences of Excom- 
munication, and the like : and it is reported with confi- 
dence, that, when the late Mr. George Grenville, (who was, 
at that time, firft Lord of the Treafurv, and Chancellor of 
the Exchequer) was told that the Enumeration of these in- 
ftruments was unneceffary, as no fuch courts were known 
in America, he replied, that, though fuch courts were not at 
yet eftablifhedin America, yet it was verypofiible that they 

might 



26 . 

might be eftablifhed there in fome future period, and that 
then it would be proper that thofe inftruments fhould pay 
the ftamp-duty ; and accordingly the Enumeration of thefe 
Eceleftaftical Inftruments was continued in the ftamp-acl ; 
and this is faid to have excited in the minds of the Ameri- 
cans a new apprehenfion of a dengn of this kind in the 
government of Great-Britain. I fay, Mr. Printer, a new 
apprehenfion of this kind, bccaufe they had more than 
once been alarmed with an apprehenfion of this danger 
before, from the great zeal mown upon this fubjeel: by 
fome of the moft eminent Englifh bifhops in the late 
reign, amongft whom I believe I may reckon the two 
famous bifhops of London, Dr. Gibfon and Dr. Sherlock^ 
and moft certainly the late Dr. Seeker, archbimop of 
Canterbury, who (though he had been bred amongft the 
Proteftant Diffentcrs, and in the former part of his life had 
embraced the profeffion of Phyflck in one or other of its 
branches,) was remarkable for an uncommon degree of zeal 
for Epifcopacy, and a moft ardent delire to extend its influ- 
ence to America. 

But this alarm, which had been excited amongft the 
Americans by the Enumeration of the Inftruments ufed by 
Ecclefiaftical courts in the ftamp-acr, was greatly increafed 
by a pamphlet written in the province of either New-Jerfey 
or New-York, in the year 1766, or 1767, in favour of the 
meafure of eftablifliing a Proteftant Biftiop in America. 
This pamphlet was generally fuppofed to be written by 
Dr. Chandler, a clergyman of the church of England, 
who was minifter of a church-of-England congregation 
at Elizabeth-town, in New-Jerfey, about fifteen miles 
from New-York. It is faid to have been ably and plaufi- 
bly written, and to have made a ftrong impreflion both 
on the members of the church of England in North- 
America, and particularly in thofe two provinces of New- 
Jerfey 



27 

Jerfey and New-York, and on feveral men of power and 
influence in Great-Britain, fo as to excite in them a 
ftrong defire of caufing the meafure of eftablifhing a bifhop 
in America to be adopted. At leaft this was fuppofed by 
the Americans to be the effect of it. For, foon after the 
publication of this pamphlet, the diffenters from the 
church of England in New- York, being much alarmed by 
an opinion of this kind, fet on foot a periodical paper 
to anfwer the doctrines and fuggeftions contained in it, 
which they called the America?! Whig, and in which 
all the acts of cruelty and oppreffion that had formerly been 
committed by bifhops of all forts, proteftants as well as 
papifts, and particularly thofe done by archbifhop Laud* 
bifhop Neal, and bifhop Wren, in King Charles the Firft's 
time, (which occafioned the great emigration of the Puritans 
to America, about the year 1630, by which the New-* 
England colonies were firfl effectually peopled,) were 
brought afrefh to light, and painted in the ftrongeft 
colours. This American Whig came-out either once a 
week or once a fortnight, (I forget which,) during all the 
year 1767, and revived all the ancient apprehenfions and 
animofities againfl bifhops, which for a long time before 
had (with but a few interruptions) gradually fubfided. 
This paper (as we might naturally fuppofe it would do) 
produced a paper in anfwer to it, which alfo was publifhed 
periodically, as well as the American Whig, and at the 
fame intervals of time one from the other, that is, once a 
week, or once a fortnight. It bore a tremendous title, and 
was written, as far as I remember, in a flyle of great 
haughtinefs and infolence. It was entitled, A Scourge for 
the American Whig ; by Timothy Tickle, Esq. and to this 
Scourge a reply was written, in defence of the American 
Whig, and entitled, A Kick for the Whipper ; ly Sir Isaa* 
Foot; which was likewife a periodical paper, that came- 
out once a week or once a fortnight. All thefe three 

papers 



papers were printed at New-York, in the years 1767 and 

1768, and had the ill effect of fetting the minds of the 

people of America in general, but particularly of the 

people in that city and province, of the two oppofite feels 

of Episcopalians and Prefbyterians, very much upon the 

fret againft each other, fo as to deltroy all Chriftian love 

and affection in them towards each other. And it was, 

probably, in confequence of the ferment can fed by thefe 

papers, and of the apprehension of bavins; a bimop efta- 

bliflied in America, which had occasioned the writincr them, 

ihat the Houfe of Reprefentatives of the province of the 

Maffachufetts-Bay inferted the above-recited paragraph in 

their letter to Mr. De Berdt, their agent, defiring him 

to ufe his utmoft efforts to prevent fo dangerous an efta- 

blifhment. 

But, if the publication of Dr. Chandler's pamphlet was 
sufficient to alarm the Americans with the apprehenfion. 
of having a bimop eftablifhed amongft them, how much 
more would they be alarmed (if they were again fubjefib 
Co the Crown) at the declaration contained in the fermon of 
the Archbifhop of York *, that fuch a meafure was become 
indifpenfably neceffary ? Such a declaration from fuch a 
perfon (who has been many years preceptor to the heir- 
apparent of the Crown, and has fence been promoted to the 
fecond ftation of dignity in the church, as a mark of his 
Majefty's approbation of his cond.?cl: and principles) would 
be confidered by them as an authentick, publick, notification 
that adefignofthis kind was deliberately refolved-on in 
the cabinet, and would of ilfelf, if every thing elfe was 
fettled to their Satisfaction, be almoft fufficient to drive 
them into a new rebellion. The paflage in which his 
Grace makes this declaration concerning the eftablimment 
of bifhops in America, is as follows : 

* Dr. William Markham, in a Sermon preached before the Sjciety 
for propasr^ti/fg the Gospel, on the 21st day of February, 1777- 

" We 



29 

* e We may now perhaps difcover a ray of brightnefc. 
*• But for the continuance and increafe of it we mnft rely 
(( on the wifdom of our governours, in confidence that 
" neceflity will at lad provide thofe remedies which fore- 
<( fight did not : that the dependance of the colonies may 
rt be no longer nominal. And for our fpiritual ihterefts, 
" we hope the reafoning which was fo juft in the cafe of 
" Canada, '"that, if you allowed their religion, you mud 
" allow a maintenance for their clergy,'" will be thought, 
iC at leaft, equally ftrong when it pleads for our own 
* ff church ; that thofe who are difpofed to worihip God 
l< in peace and charity, may be thought entitled to a 
<c regular and decent fupport for their minifters; that 
s( they may not continue to want the important office of 
" Confirmation, without the benefit of which even a Tole-^ 
<c ration is not compleat ; and that thofe who have a call 
** to the miniftrv, may not be obliged to feek Ordination 
<c at ah expenfe which is very grievous, and with the 
" hazard of a loner vovaire, which has been already fatal 
<c to many of them. We have, finely, a right to expect 
<c that the only Eftabliflied church mould not^ againfi all 
u example, remain in a ftate of oppreflion, and that, 
<c whatever encouragements may be afforded, they fhould 
tc rather hzfor the profeffing it than againjl it.'' 

This paffage, I prefume, cannot pofiibly be underftood 
in any other fenfe than as a declaration that, in the firft 
place, the Governments of the American colonies muft 
be new-modelled, and made lefs popular, and more de- 
pendant on the Crown, than they now are ; and likewife 
that a powerful (landing-army mult be kept in them, to 
fecure their future obedience, or to the end that their 
dependance may be no longer nominal', and 2dl)7 that 
tythes, or fome other tax, ought to be impofed on the laity 
in America for the fupport of the church-of-England 

Clergv 



30 

Clergy, in the fame manner as has been done in Canada 
for the maintenance of the Romifh clergy; and 3dly, that 
one or more Proteftant Bifhops ought to be eftablifhed in 
America, who fhould be conftantly refident there, to Or- 
dain clergymen, and adminifter the office of Confirmation. 
Now either of thefe meafures, taken feparately, would have 
been fufficient to excite the Colonifts to rebellion, if they 
had been in perfect peace with Britain before they had been 
undertaken. It is therefore neceffary to give the Americans 
the fulled parliamentary fecurity that they never will be at- 
tempted ; and more particularly the lad meafure, of fettling 
a biihop amongft them, becaufe that is a meafure that has 
been mentioned by many other perfons of weight and influ- 
ence in England before the Archbifhop of York, and has 
given the Americans great uneafinefs. 

A Friend to Reconciliation. 

E. M. 



SI 



A PARAPHRASE ON A PASSAGE IN A SERMON PREACHES 
BY THE MOST REVEREND DR. WILLIAM MARKHAM, 
ARCHBISHOP OF YORK, BEFORE THE SOCIETY FOR 
PROPAGATING THE GOSPEL, ON THE 21st OF FEBRU- 
ARY, 1777 i 

When it was expected by the persons who had advised 
the american war, that the revolted colonies in 
america would soon be intirely subdued, and reduced 
to the obedience of the british parliament. 

The paflage itfelf, which is here intended to be para- 
phrased, is in thefe words. " Our profpecls indeed have 
te been long dark. We may now, perhaps, d if cover a ray 
ii of brightnefs . But for the continuance and increafe of it 
<c we mufl rely on the wifdom of our Governours ; in confi- 
* c dence that Neceffity will at lafl provide thofe remedies 
" which Forefight did not ; that the dependance of the 
" colonies may be no longer nominal. And, for our Spirit 
" tual inter ejls, we hope the reajoning which wasfojujl in 
<( the cafe of Canada, ifi That, if you allowed their religion^ 
4f you mufl allow a maintenance for their Clergy," 9 will be 
" thought at leaf equally firong when it pleads for our -own 
" Church : that thofe who are difpofed to worfhip God in 
" peace and charity, may be thought entitled to a regular 
" and decent fupport for their minijlers ; — that they may not 
u continue iowant the important office of Confirmation ; with- 
4t out the benefit of which even a Toleration is not comphat; 
u — and that thofe who have a call to the minifry may not 
(i he obliged to feek Ordination at an expence which is very 
<s grievous, and with the hazards of a long voyage, which 
" has Lcen already fatal to many of them. We have fur el y 
* c a right to expeel, that the only EJlablifhed Church fhould 
l( not, againfl all example, remain in a flute of oppreffion-, 

< ( and 



•* and that, whatever encouragements may be afforded^ 
fi they Jhould rather he for the prof effing it than aga'inft 
« it. 

ee As to what relates to the delinquents, we, for our 
l< parts, Jhould wijh to fay, '" Go, and fin no moreS" Bid 
Ci the Interejls of great States require fecurities that are not 
" precarious J* 

This paflage is exprefled in fmooth and plaufible language : 
but it contains a variety of moil bitter propositions. I pre- 
sume it may be fairly paraph rafed in the following man- 
ner. 

u Our profpecls of reducing the rebel Americans to an 
t( unconditional fubmiffion to the authority of the mother- 
iC country, fince the breaking. out of the prefent troubles^ 
(< have, till lately, been but gloomy. Their armies had in- 
" vaded and reduced all Canada to their obedience, in the 
" winter of the year 1775, except the Angle town of Que- 
(6 beck ; — and had blocked-up General Howe, with all the 
" BritifTi troops that were then in New-England, within 
u the town of Bofton during the fame winter, and had at 
<£ laft obliged him to abandon it in the month of March of 
ie the following year 1776, and fly with his army to Halifax 
(i in Nova Scotia ; — and they had repulfed the Britifh fleet 
« and army under the command of General Clinton and 
" Sir Peter Parker, in an attempt they made in the fame 
6: year to pofTefs themfelves of Charles-Town in South 
" Carolina : — infomuch that, about half a year ago, 
" neither his Majefty's troops, nor thofe fubjects of hig 
i( Majefty in America who had preferved their allegiance 
ft to him, pofleffed a Angle foot of land throughout all the 
< c thirteen revolted colonies. But now of late the for- 
V tune of the war has begun to change. A ray of bright- 
" nefs has broke- forth in the fuccefles of the army under 
<c Sir William Howe in New-York and New-Jcrfey, and 

•• of 



33 

Cf of that under General Burgoyne and General Carleton 
u in Canada. The fiege of Quebeck has been raifed, and 
" the whole of that extenfive province recovered by the 

* latter generals; and the principal army of the rebel 
n Americans has been defeated by General Howe in Long 
" Iflandj and they have been fince driven from their fofti- 
" fied pofts at New- York and King's Bridge, and from 
** their forts near Hudfon's river ; and great part of the 

* provinces of New-York and New-Jerfey has been redu- 
" ced to the obedience of the Britifh Crown : — And, from 
" the precipitate manner in which the American army 
" has every where fled before the Britifh troops, there is 
" good ground to hope that, in the courfe of one more 
" campaign, the whole appearance of refiftance to the 
" authority of Great-Britain in America will be at an end, 
" Then will be the time for confirming and rivetting the 
" dominion of the Mother-country over thofe turbulent 
" and ungrateful dependencies, by making fuch wife and 
** effectual civil regulations as (hall prevent a return of the 
" prefent disturbances $ — regulations which ought to have 
" been made long ago by the government of Great-Bri- 
e( tain, if that government had had a proper degree of fore - 
u fight and attention to the feditious and republican prin- 
" ciples that had long prevailed in thofe colonies, and to 
<c the mifchiefs which thofe principles were likely one day 
€i to produce. They will, however, be now made at laft, 
" (ince the want of them has been fo fatally experienced. 
" The dependance of thofe colonies on Great-Britain will 
" be no longer nominal, but real and Jlrong and permanent? 
" in confequence of thefe new regulations which Neceflity 
" will have taught the Britifh government at length to 
« eftablifh. 

w What thefe regulations will be, cannot yet be known 
" with certainty. But, from the meafures which the wif- 

d " dom 



34 

" dom of Parliament has already adopted with refpeel to 
- c fome parts of North- America, we may conjecture that 
" they will not be very different from thofe that follow. 

ii In the firft place, the democratical charters of Con- 
cc necticut and Rhode-Ill and (which veft in the people of 
li thofe provinces the right of annually chooflng their own 
(i Governors, Councils, and AfTemblies without any inter - 
" ference of the crown,) will be either totally abolifhed, as 
s< . abfurd and incompatible with the genius of the BritiOi 
(i government, (which, though in fome refpecls limited, is, 
" in its eflence and principle, monarchical,) or will be 
<c greatly altered by the wifdom of the Britifh legiflature, 
u and rendered more dependant on the crown; as the char_ 
6( ter of that other, and mod turbulent, province of New- 
<•' England, the MaiTachufett's Bay, (though lefs democrati- 
f f cal than the two former,) was in the year 1774, by the 
" advice of thofe eminent ftatefmen, Lord North and Lord 
" George Germaine*. 

u In the fecond place, the proprietary governments of 
6C Penfylvania and Maryland will, mod probap y, be alfo 
" corrected by the fame wife and fupreme legiflature; and 
<f the powers of government which are vefted by the char* 
" ters of thofe colonies in the heirs of William Penn and 
(C Lord Baltimore, (the founders of them,) will be refumed 
cc into the king's hands, upon reafonable compenfations in 
" honour and profit made to the faid heirs for the lofs of 
u thofe hereditary jurifdictions, and will be annexed perpetu- 
<e ally to the crown, from which they ought never to have 
s< been feparated. This meafure we may confider asalmoft 
" fure of being adopted in the new regulation of the Ame- 

* -See Almon's Pailiamcutary Debates for the year 1774, pages 

no— iie. 

t( rican 



35 

i( riean colonies that is now in contemplation, on account 
" of its indifpenfable importance towards eftabliming that 
" dependance of thofe colonies On Great-Britain which is 
" fo much the objecT: of our wifties. 

" And, thirdly, we may fuppofe that in the faid province 
w of Penfylvania, (in which, hitherto, can you believe it ? 
" there has been no council to balance and controul the 
" afTembly elected by the people,) the wifdom of parlia- 
" ment will think it neceflary to eftablifh a council that 
" (hall be compofed of perfons of the greateft weight and 
" dignity in the province, to be nominated by the Crown, 
" and who (hall alfo be removeable at the pleafure of the 
" Crown. And it fcems probable, alfo, that the number of 
" counfellors fo to be appointed will be made variable at the 
" pleafure of the Crown between the numbers of twelve 
" counfellors and thirty-Jix, or fome other pretty diftant 
" limits; fo that the king, in his royal wifdom, may, at 
<{ any time, either add to, or take from, the faid coun- 
" cil a great number of members, whenever he fhall think 
" the members already, belonging to it not fufficiently at- 
* f tentive to the maintenance of his royal prerogative. 
" For this has been already done with refpect to the new 
" council eftablifhed in the Maflachu r eit's Bay by the late 
" judicious act tor amending their charter, which was 
" patted in the year 1774 by the advice of the aforefaid 
ic great ftatefmen. 

" In the fourth place, we may hope that all the judges 
" and fheriffs, and other officers of juftice in the feveral 
" provinces in America, will be made compleatly depen- 
" dant on the Crown, fo as to be both nominated by the 
" king, and removeable by him at his pleafure, inftead of 
" either being elected by the people, (as they now are in 
" fome of the colonies by virtue of their unfortunate char- 
ic ters,) or of being appointed by the crown in a permanent 

d 3 manner* 



a 



n 



36 

manner, or during their lives or good behaviour, as ih* 
judges are appointed here in England. And at the fame 
time we may prefume that the Britifti Parliament or the 
Crown, will take care to increafe the falaries of thefe 
" j Llc % es anQl other officers of juftice in every province, fo 
" as to make their offices become objects of ambition and 
w competition to all themoft able and active lawyers in the 
ft province, who will thereby be induced to vie with each 
*' other in duty and loyalty to -the king's majefty, and in 
€C zeal for the maintenance of his Royal Prerogative, in or- 
" der to obtain them. This will be a moft ufeful regulation^ 
u and cannot fail of producing the beft effects : and it has 
tl been already adopted in the important province of the 
" Mafiaehufett's Bay with refpect to the judges of the fupe- 
" riour court there. 

" In the fifth place, we may furely expect that the Britifli 
M government will greatly increafe the number of officers 
" employed in the collection of the cuftoms in America, 
" and in enforcing the execution of the laws of trade 
" amongft them, which have hitherto been mod fhamefully 
" evaded. This will be doubly ufeful ; inafmuch as it will 
c * not only tend to produce the juft and full execution of 
fC thofe laws, but will create a new fet of perfons dependant 
« on the Crown, and difpofed to fupport its Prerogative, 
<* This has already been done in fome degree by erecting 
" the Board of Commiffioners of Cuftoms for North- 
" America, with handfome falaries of 500/. a year a piece, 

* But much more of the fame kind remains to be done in 
rc order to give this meafure its full and proper effect. 

" In the lixth place, it feems by no means improbable 
** that a moft judicious piece of policy which has lately been 
" adopted with refpect to the great province of Quebeck^ 

* may be extended to the other provinces of North-Ame- 

* rica : I mean the meafure of annexing a falary of 100L 

" fterlinjj 



37 

w fterling a year to the office of a eounfellor of the province, 
•' or member of its legislative council. For it is obvious 
u that fuch a meafure, if extended to thofe other provinces, 
u would greatly contribute to keep the members of the 
" feveral councils of them in a habit of conftartt fidelity and 
" attachment to the interefts of the Crown and of Great- 
*' Britain. 

" In the feventh place, it will evidently be proper to build 
ii forts, or citadels, in all the principal towns ofNorth«- 
*'• America, and likewife at the mouths of all the principal 
" riven there; more efpeciallv at Bofton, New- York, 
** Philadelphia, Albany in the province of New- York, and 
** Charles-Town in South-Carolina, and at the mouths of 
'•' the rivers Connecticut, Hudfon, and Delaware ;— and to 
'* keep-up rtronjj garrifons in them; in order to curb the 
" licentioufnefs of the people, and to keep them in that 
<s fiate of peace and fubje&ion to the crown to which we 
" have reafon to hope they will foon be reduced. The 
" number of troops requifite for this falutary purpofe will, 
M I prefume, be about thirty thoufand men. 

" Without this very important meafure it would not be 
* b ' poflible to carry the former meafures into execution; — 
u at lead till the people of thofe provinces bad become 
" habituated to the new kind of government eftablifhed 
66 Over them, and had formed their hopes, and views, and 
ec fentiments, accordingly. This meafure is therefore in- 
u difpenfably neceflary, that the dependance of the colo- 
'•- nies on Great-Britain may be no longer nominal, as, 
u by the fupine conduct 0^* former minifters of ftate, it has 
" been hitherto. 

u And, as the foregoing regulations, and more efpecially 
11 the laft, will evidently require a very confiderable lum of 
" money to be every year expended by government ; and 
" it is but reafonabla that the American* (Iiould pay this 

D $ " money 



38 

66 money, which their own ingratitude and obftinacy will 
" have made it neceflary for Great-Britain to expend upon 
ff them ; — and the produce of the few port-duties now 
4C fubfifting in America will be much too fmall to defray 
M this great expense ; — it will be neceflary in the eighth 
" place, that the parliament of Great-Britain mould efta- 
" blifh fome further port-duties in America, to be applied 
M to the foregoing purpofes, or to the fupport of the new 
u civil and military eftablifhment which will be made 
" there. — And perhaps, alfo, it will be thought expedient 
iC to lay fome reafonable and equitable internal tax on the 
' u Americans in aid of the faid port-duties, which might 
" hardly by themfelves be fufficient to defray the whole ex- 
ci pense of fo i-arge an eftablifliment. Such, for example, 
<c might be another (lamp-duty, upon the plan of that 
" which was laid upon the Americans by the Britifh par- 
iC liament in the year 1765, and too haftily, and moft un- 
happily, taken-off in the following year, 1766 ; and 
which, by the confeflion of the Americans themfelves, 
was the moft judicious internal tax that could beimpofed 
upon them, if (fay they) it had been right to impofe any 
" tax at all. This tax, therefore, might be again impofed 
" upon the Americans, after the appeal to thedecifion of the 
" Almighty, which the Americans have made concerning 
cc the right of the Britifh parliament to govern them, fliall 
ii have been determined againft them, as we may hope it 
" will now foon be. And, if this tax fliould be again im- 
li pofed on them, it will probably be neceflary to double 
16 the quantity of it, on account of the great excefs of the 
" expenfe of the new American eftablifhment, (which the 
tc rebellious conducl of the Americans will have rendered 
" neceflary,) above that which was thought fufficient at the 
li time of pafling the former ftamp-acl:. 

" Thefe, and other fuch, meafures will probably be 

« thought 



33 



thought by the Britifli parliament to be the proper and 
neceffary remedies for the feditious diforders of America, 
and will, therefore, no doubt, be applied without delay, 
in order to preferve a real, and not a nominal, dependance 
of thofe colonies on Great-Britain. And thus the tern- 
poral affairs of that country will now fpeedily be ar- 
ranged. 

u But what more immediately demands our attention, 
and, no doubt, muft excite the concern of the congrega- 
tion here affembled, is the Jlate of religion in thofe pro- 
vinces; which, it muft be conferled, has hitherto been 
too little attended-to by the government of Great-Britain. 
But now we may juftly hope this fault will be repaired, 
and thai fuch meafures will be adopted, in favour of the 
pure and holy church of which we are members, as (hall 
effectually eftablifh and fupport it throughout all America. 
Thefe, we may prefume, will be as follows. 
w In the firft place parliament will now, at laft, eftablifh 
tythes, or fonie other legal payment, in the colonies of 
America, for the maintenance of the clergy of the church 
of England that are fettled in it. This feems fo highly 
reafonable, that it is almoft a matter of ftri£t juftice. For 
it is no more than what has been done in Canada, by 
the late Quebeck-a£t, in favour of the clergy of the church 
of Rome, upon this equitable principle, ' That, if the 
Britifn government allowed the religion of the Roman- 
catholicks to be profeffed in that province, (which, by 
the capitulation in 1760, and the treaty of peace in 1J63, 
it feemed bound in juftice to do,) they muft alio provide 
a maintenance for their priefts.' " Now, furely, the 
fame principle may be applied to our own church, and 
will prove that, fince it is neceffary to allow the religion 
of the church of England to be profefied in the other 
D 4 " colonic? 



40 

fi colonies of North- America, it is alfo necefifary to provide 
u a maintenance for its minifters. 

" Nor ought thefe payments for the maintenance of the 
u minifters of the church of England to be made only by 
" thofe perfons who are members of the church. This 
Ci would be much too narrow a fund for the decent and 
iC honourable fupport of that denomination of proteftants 
ie who may be called the only ejlahli/hed church in all Ame- 
a rica. In confequence of this pre-eminence of our holy 

church above all the fedarian perfualions in religion, 
" (which, indeed, are but too frequent and numerous in 
" thofe provinces, but which, in a legal confederation, are 
" only tolerated in them, and not ejlabli/hed> anymore than 
" they are here in England,) it is fit and juft that a general 
" contribution ihould be made for the maintenance of its 
" minifters by all the inhabitants of America without 
u diftin&ion, even as here in England prefbyterians, and 
" quakers, and other diflenters from theeftabliftied church, 
li are obliged to pay tythes to its minifters. For thofe who 
u are difpofed to worfliip God in peace and charity, that is, 
" the members of the church of England, are entitled to a 
iC regular and decent fupport for their minifters. 

u In the fecond place, it may be hoped that the parlia- 
u ment will make ufe of the prefent glorious opportunity t* 
ci tjlablifh bijhops in America. This is a meafure of the 
ec utmoft confequence to both the laity and the clergy of 
il the church of England in America; — to the laity, that 
4< they may not want the important office of Confirmation, 
" without the benefit of which even a Toleration of the 
ai church of England is not compleat : — and to the young 
u men who devote themfelves to the miniftry of the gofpel, 
$i by affording them an opportunity of receiving epifcopal 
iC ordination in the country in which they have been born 

" and 



41 

tc and educated, without being forced, (as they have been 
" hitherto,) to come to England for that purpofe, at an ex* 
" penfe which they can ill fupport, and with the hazard 
" of their healths and lives in a long fea-voyage, which has 
" been already fatal to many of them. Till this important 
" meafure is adopted, and carried into effectual execution, 
" by eftablifhing a proper number of bifhops in America, 
u with revenues fuitable to the dignity of their office and 
" ftatton, the church of England (though it is, in point of 
" right and law, the only eitablifhed church in America,) 
" may be truly faid to be in f aft in a (late of perfecution or 
" oppreffion, while every other denomination of proteftants 
" enjoys the higheft degree of liberty : which is an event 
" of a iingular nature, and contrary to the example of all 
" other governments in the world ; as they always take care 
" to provide fuitable encouragements and fupports for the 
" feveral religions they think fit to adopt and eftablifh. It 
" is fit, therefore, that England fhould, at laft, follow the 
" fame juft policy, and that every encouragement that the 
" Britifh government can afford to any religion in America 
" fhould be afforded to that of the church of England. 

" As to what relates to the perfons who have engaged in 
'f this wicked and unnatural rebellion, we, that are minifters 
" of the gofpel of peace and mercy, fhould, if we were to 
" follow the inclinations of our hearts, rejoice to fee thofe 
" offenders difcharged, at the clofeof thefe troubles, with no 
" other punifhment or reproof, than our Saviour's exhorta- 
" tion to the woman taken in adultery, * Go, and Jin no 
" more.' But policy and prudence forbid fo mild a con- 
<l duel;, and make it neceflary to the future fafety and traiv- 
" quillity of the ftate, that many of thofe who have been 
" moil guilty in exciting this rebellion in America fhould 
" receive due punifhment for their crimes by the fentence 

" of 



42 

*' of thofe laws which they have To wantonly and atrocioufly 
" violated. The members of the Continental Con^refs in 

o 

" particular, who have palled the vote of Independance, 
" and thereby themfelves renounced, and infligated their 
u countrymen to renounce, the allegiance due to the king's 
" facred majefty, moft be confidered as having offended be- 
" yond all hopes of mercy ; which, if it were extended to 
" offenders of that deep malignity, might be juftly cenfured 
u as weak and dangerous, and injurious to the publick wel- 
" fare. For it would counter-act the good effects of the 
" fucceffes with which God hath been pleafed to blefs our 
u arms in this unhappy conteft, and would render precari- 
" ous the future peace and tranquillity of the American 
"colonies, and the future authority of Great-Britain over 
" them, (by which alone that tranquillity can be preferved,) 
" by preventing the exiftence of the ftrongelt of all fecu- 
" ri ties for the continuance of thofe bleffings, to wit, the 
" terror anting from the tight and memory of a fevere and 
" extenfive execution of the law's againft thofe who have fo 
" wickedly overthrown them. Thefe very great offenders, 
" therefore, together with the principal members of the 
" feveral provincial afiemblies, or conventions, that have 
" ufurped the government of their refpeftive provinces fince 
" the general rejection of His Majefty's lawful authority, 
" we muft now prepare ourfelves to fee punifhed in the 
" manner the laws direct, in order to infure to future gene- 
" rations the advantages of peace and harmony between 
" Great-Britain and the American colonies, with a due fub- 
" ordination of the latter to the parental authority of the 
" former, which, by God's bleffing on his Majefty's arms* 
" are likely now foon to be ellablihhed." 

This I take to be a fair and moderate interpretation of 
the above-mentioned paffage of the Archbifhop of York's 

fermon. 



43 

fermon. The feven propofition?, or regulations, herein 
before ditfineily fet-forth in the firft part of the foregoing 
paraphrafe, are thofe which I conceived, upon reading the 
faid paflage of that fermon, the archbifhop muft have had 
in his mind at the time he wrote it, and would have fet forth 
and avowed, ii he had been under a neceiTuy of pointing- 
out diftinclily what thofe remedies of the political diforders 
in America were, which, he fays, Necdiity will now at lad 
provide, though Fo relight did not. And I am confident 
that no American that reads that fermon, will conceive it 
to mean lefs. — And, as to the latter propositions concern- 
ing the ftate of the church of England in America, and the 
neceffity of eftablifhingtythes there, or feme other legal and 
general payments, (to be made by all the inhabitants of 
America, as well as by the members of the church of 
England,) for the maintenance of the clergy of the church 
of England, and likewife of eftablifhing bifhops there; — I 
fay, as to thefe latter propositions, they are exprefsly con- 
tained in the Archbifhop's own words, which cannot be 
made intelligible, or confident with themfelves, by any other 
interpretation. — Nor can the laft paragraph of the aforefaid 
paflage of the Archbi (hop's fermon, in which he faysconcife- 
]y, iC That the interejh of great Jiates require fecurities that 
are not precarious ," be well fuppofed to have a lefs extenfive 
meaning than that which is above afcribed to it. 

There is alfo another very remarkable paflage in that 
fermon of the Archbifhop of York, which relates to a mod 
refpeclable body of people herein England itfelf; I mean 
the proteftant diflenters. Thefe people have fo far incurred 
his grace's difpleafure, by expreffing a difapprobation of the 
raeafures that have been taken again ft America, that he 
treats them as the worft enemies of government, and de- 
clares that the fevere laws which were formerly made 

againfl 



44 

againft papifts in the reigns of queen Elizabeth and king 
James I. in confequence of their frequent plots to dethrone 
and affaffinate the former, and of the famous gunpowder 
plot in the beginning of the reign of the latter, (by which 
they designed to deftroy at once the king and both houfes of 
parliament,) ought now to be extended to thefe new, but 
equally dangerous, domeftick enemies. The paffage in which 
this fentiment is conveyed, is in thefe words. (( When a 
61 feci is eftablijhed, it ufually becomes a party in tbejiate: 
" it has its inter ejh \ it has its animofities ; together with 
iC ^fvf em of civil opinions, by which it is diftinguifhed, at 
" leaft as much as by its religious. Upon thefe opinions, 
" when contrary to the well-being of the community , the au- 
" thority of the fate is properly exercifed. 

" The laws enacled againft pap'fts have been extremely 
" fevere : but they were not founded on any difference in re- 
u ligious fentiments. The reafons upon which they were 
u founded were purely political. 

11 The papijts acknowledged a foverergnty different from 
" that of the fate ; andfome of the opinions which they main- 
" tained made it impofjible for them lo give any fecurity for 
u their obedience \ We are ufually governed by traditional 
14 notions, and are apt to receive the partialities and averfons 
" of our fathers. $ut new dangers may arife: and, if at 
" any time another denomination of menfhould be equally 
t( dangerous to our civil interefts, it would be juftifiable to 
u lay them under Jimilar rejlraints. if 

I prefume it can hardly be doubted that the meaning of 
the iaftfentence of this paffage, when turned into (till plainer 
Engliib, is as follows. '* The prefbyterians and other pro- 
" teftant diflenters of England are at this day as much ene- 
" mies to government, and as dangerous to our civil 
" interefts, as the papifts were in the reigns of queen Eliza* 

" beth 



45 

<"' beth and king James I. when thofe fevere laws were 
" made againft them. Therefore it is now equally juft and, 
" neceffary to make the like laws again!! the faid proteftant 
" diflenters.^ 

This is a ftrange accufation to be brought againft that 
body of men in England who have, of all others, been mod 
uniformly and zealoufly attached to the government of the 
princes of the houfe of Hanover, ever fince the iirft moment 
of their acceffion to the throne of thefe kingdoms ! — and 
for no other crime but exprefling a difapprobation of the 
wild and dangerous project of attempting to govern three 
millions of people, at the diftance of three thoufand miles, 
in a manner they did not like, by means of a great army, 
compofed in part of hired foreigners ; — a project which was 
likely to be almoft equally pernicious to Great-Britain, whe- 
ther it did, or did not, fucceed. For, if it had fuccceded, 
it would have increafed the power and influence of the 
crown (which are already generally thought to be too great,) 
in fo great a degree as to have rendered the liberties of Eng- 
land itfelf precarious, or dependant on the perfonal cha- 
racter and virtues of the king upon the throne ; and it 
would likewife have occafioned a prodigious additional 
annual expenfe to Great-Britain, to maintain the army 
which would have been necefiary to keep America in fuhjec- 
tion, after it had been fubdued ; — an expenfe which would 
have far exceeded all the taxes that could have been raifed 
for that purpofe in America, together with all the profits 
that Great-Britain could have derived from the prefervation 
and monopoly of its trade. And, if it did not fucceed, 
(which was much the more likely event, and that which 
we now fee and feel, has happened,) it was likely to be 
attended with the total lofs of the colonies of North-Ame- 
rica, (which would in fuch a cafe make themfelves independ- 

ant 



45 

ant of Great -Bntain,) together with that of the Weft-India 
iflands, and the Newfoundland fifhery, and (in confequence 
of thefe loiTes) with the diminution of our trade and mari- 
time power, the decreafe of the produce of the cuftoms and 
excife, the lefleningof the fecurity of the national debt, and 
the neceflity, at the fame time, of continually laying-on new 
taxes, which mult, in luch a ftate of things, be principally 
levied upon the landed property of the kingdom. All thefe 
mibfortunes, and more, were likely to be the confequence 
of the failure of fuccefs in this attempt to fubjugate America. 
And that this attempt would fail or fuccefs, was eafily fore- 
feen, and publickly and repeatedly foretold, not only by 
many of the proteftant diffenters of the kingdom, but by 
numbers of people of other descriptions in it, who thought 
it highly improbable that France (notwithstanding her pro- 
feffions of friend {hip and fidelity to her engagements with 
Great-Britain,) would forbear to interfere in favour of the 
colonies in one period or other of the difpute, in order to 
prevent the reconciliation and re-union of thofe two great 
members of the Britifh empire, and (to ufe Dr. Franklin's 
expreliioii in his memorial to the court of France in the 
autumn of the year 1777,) to improve ike majl favourable 
opportunity that had ever been offered her s of humbling her 
1110ft powerful and hereditary enemy. And now the event 
has (hown that this apprehenfion was but too well ground- 
ed. It ought not therefore to be imputed as a crime to the 
proteftant d .{Tenters of the kingdom, that they oppofed that 
impolitick fyftem of meafures which, they faw, was likely 
to bring ruin on the nation, and deprive his Majefty of a 
great and mod flourishing part of his dominions ; — and 
much lefs ought it to be confidercd as a crime of fo deep a 
dye as to warrant, the very fevere meafures which the Arch- 
bifhop recommends to betaken againft them, of treating 

them 



47 

them as a fet or people who, by principle, are enemies to the 
conftitution of their country, anti of extending to them, on 
that account, the laws formerly made agalnft papifts. 

As for the other event of this attempt to fubjugate Ame- 
rica, I mean the fuccefsful one, the Archbifhop himfelf haa 
furnifhed all lovers of civil liberty with the moil fubftantial 
reafons for wifhing that it might not happen, by difplaying 
to them the fyftem of meafures which, bethinks, in that 
event, ought to have been, and would have been, adopted, 
by thofe who di reel the publick counfeU of this nation, for 
the future regulation of America., to wit, the fyftem which 
is contained in the firft pafTage above-recited from his grace's 
fermon, and of which I have ventured in the foregoing pages 
to furnifh the reader with a paraphrafe. For, if America 
had been perfectly fubdued, and reduced, (as the fashion- 
able ex predion was,) to unconditional JubmiJ/ion, and, in 
confequence of fuch reduction, the aforefaid fyftem of mea- 
fures, (which are defcribed in the above paraphrafe, and 
which [ conceive to have been thofe which the Archbiftiop 
muft have had in his eye when he preached that fermon,) 
had been adopted by the Britifh parliament ; I muft freely 
eonfefs.that I fliould have thought it a greater misfortune 
than even the contrary, and more probable, event, which 
has happened, with ail the train of melancholy confequences 
that feem likely to accompany it , — fuch as the lofs of all 
ourpofTeffions both in North-America and the Weft-Indies, 
together with that of the Newfoundland fifhery (though fo 
valuable to us as a nurfery for feamen,) and that of Gibral- 
tar and Minorca, and of all our poffeffions in Africa and the 
Eaft-Indies. Thefe, I acknowledge, are great misfortunes ; 
but the lofs of the civil liberties of the nation, or their beino- 
rendered precarious and dependant on the perfonal character 
and virtues of the king fjr the time being, (which would 

have 



48 

have been the confequence of the fyftemofmeafures recom- 
mended by the archbifhop,) would be a much greater. And 
in this opinion, I truft, I am not fingular. but have the 
concurrence of thoufands and tens of thoufands of my fel- 
low-fubje&s. 

Prohibe lament a fonare ; 



Flere veta populos ; tacrymas, hidits que r&mitte 
Vmcere PEJUS eratr 

Jjucani Pharfaliay Lib. 7> vers. 707, 708, 709. 

F. M. 



49 



OF THE STATE OF NORTH AMERICA, AFTER THE 
CAPTURE OF LORD CORNWALLISS ARMY. 



For the Morning Chronicle, 



London, Aiigujl*], 1782. 
Mr. Printer, 

Inclosed you have a letter wrote by a gentleman in 
South-Carolina to his friend in London, without the 
alteration of a word or fyllable. The writer I know to be 
a native of South-Britain, and that he is a gentleman of 
large property in America, where he has refided near 
twenty years. The knowledge and ability of the writer, 
and the fitnefs and propriety of the plans and reafons 
fuggefted, are fubmitted to the opinion of the nation ; but 
whatever the politics of the day may determine, I am con- 
fident that Great-Britain will ere long be convinced, that 
it was her intereft and her wifdom to have adopted and 
purfued them with an ardour, which is due to that patri- 
otifm, integrity, and good fenfe, with which they are 
recommended by the writer, for the benefit of his King 
and country. 

A. B. 

So7ith-Carolina, March 28, 1782. 

In the prefent fituation of affairs, to be filent is to be 
criminal ; and I mould ill deferve the confidence and 
Friend fhip I have fo repeatedly experienced from you, if 
I did not give you my fentiments candidly on the times. 

The fall of Lord Cornwallis is, beyond a doubt, amis- 
fortune of the firft magnitude, but by no means places 
America in fo independent a fituation as the firft com- 

E plexion 



50 

plexion of this unfortunate event feemed to give it in the 
eyes of the enemies to Great-Britain ; but I am confining 
myfelf to the fouth country altogether, and, before I write 
another fentence, I will be free enough to own the impof- 
tibility now of reducing the northern country to obedience, 
for there I confefs it is taking a hull by the horns. But 
the cafe is very different to the fouth ward. The fall of 
Lord Ccrnwallis was not effected by the abilities, mem- 
bers, or refources of America : it was the power of France, 
it was their fuperior navy, and the infamous conduct of our 
own, that did the bufinefs : till the French gained this 
decifive Advantage, our troops, though inferior in numbers, 
marched from one end of Virginia to the other, backwards 
and forwards, whh little or no lofs. You will fay this is 
not conquering the country; I grant it; but it is exhauft- 
ino' it in fuch a manner, that another campaign, witk 
fuccefs, mud fo cripple it, as to render it incapable of 
J'upporting itfelf againft your operations. Whilft this was 
doing, about fixteen hundred troops, under a fenfible and 
an active officer, kept North-Carolina not only at bay, 
but in actual fufpenfe ; whilft the Tories were ranging at 
lar^e, and with funport and judicious officers, would have 
verv foon pofleiTed themfeives of all the principal leaders 
in that country againft Britain. Why nothing was at- 
tempted to be done in South-Carolina, with fo fine an 
army, is a paradox only to be folved by comparing it with 
what was not done to the north-ivard. 

Had mv humble ideas prevailed either in England or 
New-York, Green would not have infulted a fuperior 
armv fo long and lb fatally. I propofed (in my mind) that 
the Iaft reinforcement from England would have been 
made 1500 ftronsr, and that fuch a number would have 
been fent into North-Carolina, and either landed at Cape 
Fear or Edenion ; and forced their march to the weftward, 

and 



51 

and back of Green, whilft the fouthern army pufhed him 
in front ; a few weeks muft have decided his fate, and he 
would have been fortunate if he could capitulate — this was 
what he dreaded \ and therefore a nioft fubftantial reafou 
why it was not done : at that time near 6 or 7000 men 
wereunder parole, their internal government diftra&ed, their 
governor a prifoner, and Wilmington open as an afylum 
and protection for the loyalifts; the greateft difficulty at- 
tended fupplies getting to Green, either men or ftores. 
The fubject, was I to continue it, would fwell too large 
for a letter; I fhallj therefore, briefly give you my opinion 
upon what Ought to be done, and what can be done, if 
Great-Britain has only virtue enough left to hang, and 
fubftitute honefty, activity, and plan — inftead of fupine- 
nefs, confufion, Sec. &c. The force that Great- Britain 
has now in America is fully fufficient for the plan I pro- 
pofe, which is to bring all their force to the fouthward, 
and reduce the whole as far to the northward as James 
River: this is not vifionary. like all the fehemes our 
country has been purfuing thefe feven years, but is real 
and fubflantial. How, evacuate New- York, and leave the 
loyalifts to the mercy of the rebels ? My auhver (hall be 
fhort : If you don't do this, you muft evacuate all America. 
What is then to become of the loyalifts r Can anv man 
in his fenfes think, that holding New-York with 14 or 
15,000 troops in its garrifon, will prevent the independ- 
ence of America? The way to prevent it, is to conquer 
that country that is acceffible to our arms • to keep their 
internal government in confufion by the operations of war; 
to prevent the cultivation of their lands ; to increafe their 
diftrefs by the continual drafts of men for their army ; and 
the extreme burthen their taxes muft be. Now their 
paper currency is annihilated, if Wadsington comes to the 
fouthward, fo much the better ; he greater muft the ex- 

E 2 penfe 



52 

pcnie be to the Americans, the better opportunity to bring 
him to a decifive action, and the {boner will the country 
be exhaufted of its refources ; which lam furc you need 
not be told is every day growing lefs and lefs, notwith- 
standing all the pompous harangues of the patriots and 
republicans. What I purpofe can be compleated in twelve 
months, if a man of courage and wifdom is placed to con- 
duct it. It would be wifer in the nation to vote a few 
thoufand pounds as a compenfation for lofTes to fueh 
loyalifts as may incline to follow the Britifh ftandard from 
New- York, than idly to wafte millions on what I will 
be bold to pronounce (lie will never effect, if the prefent 
meafures are re-adopted and purfued. If a poft is wanted 
to the northward, why not take Rhode Ifland, a much 
lefs garrifon is neceffary ? But why will not Tybee and 
Beaufort anfwer for our (hipping ? and, if fortune mould 
ever give us a fuperior advantage over the French by fea 
(and, if you had honeft and wife men to direct your naval 
officers, you would have done it long ago), what is to pre- 
vent our taking pofleflion of the Chefapeak again ? 

If Great-Britain gains the provinces of Georgia, South 
and North-Carolina, and Virginia, fhe will have the 
only places worth her contending-for : and " that fhe can 
gain them" is indifputable. Let her whole force be 
brought to this point : determine to extirpate rebellion by 
inftantly punidimg thofe who fiiall oppofe them either by 
arms or any other way. Court and reward thofe who 
join you, and let your addrefs and money be applied for 
this purpofe; prevent plundering either foes or friends; 
exact the ftricteft difcipline; eftablifh a civil and moderate 
code of government, till the country is prepared for the 
reception of its former civil government; endeavour 
and invite . the principal perfons in each province 
into a (hare of its government; avoid the lead fliadow of 

difrefpect 



53 

difrefpect to fuch perfons (a contrary behaviour has pre- 
vented, in a great meafure, that confidence) ; direct your 
arms with unremitting vigour againft all partizans ; never 
parole, without the limits of your garrifons, perfons of any 
influence; puniih, in the moft exemplary manner, all 
perfons, without diftinction of rank, who (hall be guilty 
of murdering loyalifts otherwife than in open action; be 
fleady and uniform in your meafures ; let honetly guide 
all tranfaclions both public and private 5 convince the 
people by this conduct that you are determined to efta- 
blifh the Britifh civil government, and then let them fee as 
much vigour and enterprize in your management, as they 
have difcovered and received from your enemies, and fuccefs 
will crown our endeavours with an honourable peace, and 
the reftoration of the bleffings of Britifh government. 

A defenjive war on this extenfive continent will have 
all the bad effects of a truce to Great-Britain. If America 
is permitted to eftablifh and execute their civil government, 
and to recover from the diftrefs and difficulties they at 
prefent labour under, to furnifh their quota of men and 
ftores neceffary for active fervice, (he will be Independent in 
fpite of every effort afterwards. Many obvious reafons 
muft appear to you, to fee the matter in the fame light that I 
do. A naval war is proper and neceffary, becaufe you 
diftrefs their commerce, render foreign fupplies dear and 
precarious, and at the fame time keep them in conftant 
dread of predatory expeditions, which ought often to be Jet 
on foot. 

I am now come to fpeak of another fubject of great con», 
fequence, I feel the weight of it upon my mind, but I am 
certain of its good effects if properly conducted ; that is, 
arming the blacks. In addition to the forces already on 
this continent, near 8 or 10,000 ftrong hearty black males 
may be found proper for the field ; if they were put under 

E 3 proper 



54 

proper white officers, regularly trained, and clothed and 
fed in the fame manner as the King's troops, great fervices 
would be performed by them in this fouthern country ; 
although they may not be equal to the attack of white 
regular troops, numberlefs fervices are to be expected from 
them, equally ufeful in a war like this. The fqueamifh 
may raife objections, but they ought all to vanifli in the 
eyes of a true friend to his country, when the conteft is be- 
come fo ferious as to threaten its very exiftence. The 
French employ in the Weft Indies a great number; they 
brought their black troops againft Savannah; the Rebels 
had a company or two againft Burgoyne, and would have 
raifed two regiments in South-Carolina, if the fear of 
leading the Britifh into fo wife a meafure had not prevailed 
againft Mr. Laurens, the advocate of the meafure. Be- 
sides, the (hock it gives to property will alarm your ene- 
mies in a mod material manner. The caution and wif- 
dom in executing this matter are the only things wanted 
to enfure it every poffible fuccefs. 

Let the creditors in this country receive fome indemnifi- 
cation by other means for the hazard they run in this 
property, and let the loyalifts be exempted from parting 
with their naves, or be paid their full value. 

In (hort, I am fo povTefTed with the idea of the poflibility 
of poiTcfHrig the country I have defcribed, that I am cer- 
tain if it is properly attempted, your country will yet 
rejoice in victory. But what is to be expected from men 
and meafures like the prefent; an afTembly fat within 
thirty or forty miles of an army fuperior to the enemy, 
entered into a full difcuffion of their affairs, arranged their 
civil and military buunefs, confifcated the property of a 
very confiderable number of the loyalifts, filled up their 
army lifts, laid taxes for the fupport of their meafures, and 
although they were upwards of fix weeks en this bufinefs, 

not 



55 

not a Tingle attempt was made to interrupt them, except 
in a truly ridiculous proclamation, which the Britifh 
General (in honour of his country) thought proper to con- 
tinue under publication, before and after they had done all 
the mifchief they could devife. 

The four provinces I have named contain every article 
that is valuable in the commerce of Great-Britain, andy£<? 
muft be loft indeed, if Jhe gives-up what it is ftill in her 
power to regain. Though the loyalifts have reafon to be 
greatly difTatisfied with men and meafures, if thefe are 
changed, and a proper force and active meafures are adopt- 
ed, they will readily lend a helping hand to the mother 
country : but be allured all I have recommended muft be 
fpeedily taken in hand ; otherwife it will be, like every 
former matter, a day after the fair. What can be more 
fortunate for Great-Britain, than the annihilation of the 
paper-currency ; in South-Carolina they have voted near 
400,000 filver dollars for the continental quota for the 
p re fen t year ; this is exclufive of their ftate contingencies. 
How much this will accumulate in an unfuccefsful war 
need not be pointed-out to you. In South-Carolina they 
are collecting a number of confifcated negroes, and others, 
and are fending them off to North-Carolina, to be given 
as bounties for continental foldiers for the dates of South- 
Carolina and Georgia; 800 are already (it is faid) fent-off, 
and 400 more are to follow. 

With refpect to terms of peace, furely the poffeffion of a 
country is far more likely to procure an advantageous one 
than the pofleflion of garrifons, in which you only more 
evidently (how your weaknefs, by not daring to venture 
out of them. 

As a proof of the good effects of activity. In North- 
Carolina the whole force collected to take their Governor, 
and prevent the excurfion of the garrifon from Wilmington, 

e 4 never 



56 

never exceeded 6 or 700 men under Butler and Rutherford, 
two of the moft a&ive and zealous partizans in that coun- 
try. Lord Coruwallis and Major Craig had paroled a 
third of the people ; but all thefe advantages were loft, by 
want of conduct elfewhere. — But how can Great-Britain 
contend againft all the world ? 1 confefs this is a very awe- 
ful queftion, and was it a true ftate of her (ituation, I mould 
not hefitate to pronounce it impoffible. But governments, 
like individuals, are governed by intereft or paffion. If 
Rutlia is worthy the alliance of your country, make it her 
intereft to unite with you. Gibraltar and Minorca are 
fmall purchafes For this country, and the Weft-Indies : for, 
depend on it, the latter will not remain long dependant, 
if the former has her Independance. All the fine fpeeches 
that were made in the former Spanifh wars, on fupporting 
thefe garrifons, appear to be very futile this war. In no 
mftance have they anfwered our purpofe. You will fay 
they have divided the enemy's force, and engaged their 
attention. I acknowledge they have done this, but only 
to a degree, that by no means has prevented the enemy 
from being fuperior to us in every quarter. Give the laft 
of thefe places to Ruffia, and let her affift you in this 
country. The diverfion of force will (lill exift, and you 
have more {bength to meet your enemy in another place ; 
and for a peace with Spain, and a poflfeffion of Porto Rico, 
give up Gibraltar. 

I have made-up my mind upon our publick fituation ; and 
I am thoroughly perfuaded, that, however miftaken I may 
be in my plans* no one can more fincerely and heartily 
wifh profperity and glory to my country, than I do myfelf ; 
and it will give me the higheft pleafure, if any humble 
ideas of mine can contribute to roufe her from that infa- 
tuation that has fo long guided her, and to reftore her to 
that luftre and fame (lie formerly fo juftly poffeffed. If 



my reprefentation accords with your betterjudgment, I am 
fure your friendship for me will induce you to lay it before 
ihofe whofe fphere it is to give it efTecl:. 

But great naval exertions muft be made to recover the 
dominion of the feas ; exemplary punifhments inrli&ed on 
thofe who have neglected their duty, and the utmoft fecrecy 
in all publick meafures ; I mean in what relates to expe- 
ditions and plans againft the enemy. 

Much is loft in America for want of addrefs and atten- 
tion to thofe who join the Britiih ftandard. The pride 
and vanity of the Britifh military is little calculated for 
a people fo much upon a level as they are in this country. 
It ousht to be remembered, that the human heart is often 
gained by trifles, and it is a very common adage, that 
injuries are fooner forgot than infults. Firmnefs and uni- 
formity are effential to all great undertakings, and never 
to recede from what is, in its own nature, juft and proper. 
It is the higheft folly to be denouncing threats and punifh- 
ments one day, and the next relaxing. 

The enemy are making preparations that indicate a 
defign againft Charles-Town. A liege or an evacuation 
is the general topic at prefent. For my own part, I have 
fo bad an opinion of the judgement and conduct: of thofe 
here, who guide the Britifh affairs, that I am more afraid 
ofthelaft. I don't think Green will undertake a regular 
liege, 'till a French naval force arrives to co-operate with 
him. We may be vulnerable in fome places, and a 
great want of diicipline prevailing, may induce him to 
attempt an enterprize againft fome of our fea-ports : It 
is very certain they have been building and collecting 
boats for fome time ; but perhaps this is only a prepara- 
tion for the French. Be this as it may, no attempt what- 
ever has been made by our people, either to deftroy their 
boats and magazines, or to intercept their fupplies either 

of 



58 

of (lores or of cattle; and I am well informed, that 
Green was lately fo diftrefled for the laft, that he made 
a demand on North-Carolina for a large fupply, to raife 
which each county was taxed in proportion to its capa- 
city. A great confumption of provifion took place whiJfl 
the French remained in the Chefapeak, to the great dif- 
trefs of the inhabitants. 



59 



THOUGHTS ON THE INDEPENDENCE OF AMERICA, AND 
THE BEST MANNER OF ACKNOWLEDGING IT. 



To the Printer of the Public Advertiser* 



SIR, Nov. 22, 1*782. 

AS the conceffion of Independence to the revolted pro* 
vinces of North America feems to be the great object on 
which the reftoration of peace depends — and there are diffi- 
culties attending this conceffion which ftill make fome 
people averfe to it, notwithstanding the urgent neceflity of 
procuring peace upon any terms that are not abfolutely 
ruinous to the nation, I beg leave to ftate to your readers 
a few reflections that have occurred to me upon the fubject, 
and which may tend to remove or lelfen thofe difficulties, 
and to difpofe the nation to come into this mod falutary 
meafure heartily and fpeedily, and, if poffible, with one 
accord, 

I think it feems now to be pretty generally agreed, that 
there is no longer any reafon to hope that we {hall be able 
to reduce the Americans to obedience by force.. What was 
not done in the years 1 776 and 1777 with the great armies 
under General Howe and General Burgoyne againft the 
Americans alone, while they were yet unufed to war, can. 
hardly be effected againfl them now, after they have been 
converted into a nation of foldiers by feven years* uninter- 
rupted war, and when they are fupported by the arms of 
three powerful European nations, the French, the Dutch, 
and the Spaniards, of whom the firft are actually put in 
pofleflion of the harbours of Bofton and Rhode Ifland, and 
other important pods in thofe provinces. I fliall not there- 
fore 



60 

fore infift upon another ohfervation, of the truth of which 
I am neverthekfs mod thoroughly perfuaded ; which is, 
M That if we could reduce them to obedience by main force, 
" and that in the fpace of a (ingle campaign, it would not 
" be. w<orth our while to do fo \ but that the cxpenfe and 
" other inconveniences that would attend the keeping them 
" in fubjection after they had fubmiltcd, (which certainly 
li could not be done without erecting and maintaining manv 
<£ fortified places throughout that extenfive country, with a 
ct large {landing army of forty, or at lead thirty thoufand 
" men) would more than counterbalance all the advantages 
i( that would arife to us from their becoming again, in this 
" manner, our fellaw-fubje&s." If indeed it be true (as 
fame gentlemen confidently afTure us) that a great majority 
of the people in thefe provinces (as, for example, three- 
quarters, or four-fifths, or more) are really friends to Great 
Britain, and defirous of returning to their obedience to the 
Crown, and of renewing their old connection with us, I 
muft confefs that fuch a difpofition would be a fortunate 
change in our favour, and would deferve to be cultivated. 
But let us not haflily believe that they are in fuch a difpo- 
Ution, while their publick actions and declarations all teflify 
the contrary. Let their General Continental Congrefs and 
their Provincial AfTemhlies, (the members of which, we 
mull: remember, are not poffefTed of their power during their 
whole lives, like our Houfe of Lords, nor even for feven 
years, like our Houfe of Commons, but are chofen every 
year by the people, and who therefore ought not to be con- 
iidered as factious or partial bodies of men, that purfue a 
feparate intereft from that of the people, and govern them in 
a manner, contrary to their inclinations,) I fay, let their 
Congrefs and AiTemblies declare their willingnefs, (if they 
really are fo inclined,) to return to their old connection with 
us, and I will agree that we ought to receive them with 

open 



61 

open arms. But this is an event of which there feems not t<J 
be the fmalleft glimpfe of hope. What then regains to be 
done but to acquiefce in the lofs of thefe provinces, which 
in truth we have loft beyond all poffibility of recovering 
them by a continuance of the war? And, to teftify this 
acquiescence, it will be neceflary to declare, in the moft au- 
thentick manner, our readinefs (in order to the reftoration of 
peace) to acknowledge them as independent ftates, and to 
cultivate a friendly intercourfe with them, in that new cha- 
racter, for our mutual advantage, and more efpecially in 
matters of commerce, in which we are capable of becoming 
of moft benefit to each other. 

But here a difficulty arifes as to the manner of granting 
them Independence. It is faid, I obferve, by many people, 
(and, I believe, with truth,) that the king alone, without the 
concurrence of the parliament, cannot legally grant them 
Independence; for that he would thereby difmember the 
Britim empire, and alienate the hereditary dominions of the 
Crown, which they conceive to be beyond his powers 
t( For, though," fay they, " the king may, by virtue of his 
li prerogative of making peace or war, reftore, at a peace, a 
" country newly conquered in the preceding war, of which 
C( fuch peace is a termination, (as he did, in facl, reftore the 
" iflands of Martinique and Guadaloupe to the French king 
is at the peace of Paris in February, 1763,) yet it does not 
*' follow that he may grant away the fovereignty of a 
<c country that has been anciently and permanently a part of 
" the poffeffions of the crown of Great Britain," — I grant 
all this to be fo. But what then ? Shall the thing, there- 
fore, remain undone, not withftanding the urgent impor- 
tance of it to the welfare, or, rather, to the fafety and prefer- 
vation, of the nation? Surely this cannot be a juft con- 
clufion. But, fince the authority of parliament is necelTary 
in this bufinefs, let that authority be employed ; yet, with 

as 



62 



as great regard as poffible to his Majefly's true and acknow- 
ledged prerogative of making war and peace, which is ge- 
nerally thought to be wifely lodged by the law^ or conftitu- 
tion, in the executive branch of our Government. And let 
this be done openly and clearly, and not by ufing loofe and 
general words in an Act of Parliament that makes no exprefs 
mention of the Independence of the colonies, and by leaving 
the power of granting the faid Independence, conferred by 
the ftatute on the Crown, to be collected from thofe words 
by uncertain implications, as is the cafe with the Act of the 
Jaft feffion of Parliament, brought-in by Mr. Wallace, his 
Majefty's late Attorney- General. This indirect way of pro- 
ceeding is not calculated to gain the confidence of the Ame- 
ricans, and to bring-about the deflred reconciliation. The 
bufinefs fhould therefore be done in the fulled and plained 
manner, to the end that the Americans may no longer doubt 
of the entire concurrence of Parliament to the Act whereon 
their future Independence is to be founded, and may no 
longer complain, or have the fmalle ft pretence to complain, 
that our proceedings in this important transaction are in any 
degree obfeure or infidious. And with this view I conceive 
it would be proper to pafs an Act of Parliament to the fol- 
lowing effect, namely, " To enable the King's Majefty, if 
" in his royal wifdom he (hall fo think fit, to abfolve from 
" their allegiance to himfelf, his heirs and fucceffors, all the 
" prefent inhabitants of the thirteen revolted provinces, to wit, 
*< the province of MafTachufett'sBay, that of Connecticut, 
* f that of Rhode I (land, fee. (fpecifying them all with their 
" refpective boundaries, accurately fet-forth,) and to cede 
" unto the governing powers eftabliflied in each of the faid 
" provinces, all his Majefly's right of fovereignty over the 
" whole of fuch province, together with his right of property 
u in the foil of all fuch parts of the faid provinces as have 
" not been legally grantcd-away under the authority of the 

" Crown, 



63 

u Crown before the month of July, in 1776, when the 
" vote of Independency was paiTed in the Continental Con* 
<s grefs." All this is necefiary to be expreffed in fuch aa 
Act of Parliament, in order to make the conceffion of Inde- 
pendence clear and compleat, For, if the inhabitants of 
the faid provinces were only to be abfolved from their alle- 
giance, without alfo making them a grant of the king's 
right to the foil of the faid provinces, the king might be 
fuppofed to retain a right to the foil, and to be at liberty, at 
fome future time, to require the inhabitants of the faid 
provinces, who would have been abfolved from their alle- 
giance, and would therefore be no longer fubje&s of the 
Crown of Great Britain, to withdraw themfelves from his 
territories, and go and fettle themfelves elfewhere, where- 
ever they thought fit, out of the dominions of the Crown of 
Great Britain, And, if the foil were to be granted to the 
faid inhabitants, in the manner propofed, but without fpe- 
cifying the limits of the provinces fo granted, difputes might 
afterwards arife concerning the extent of the territories of 
thefe new ftates, who, probably, would carry their claims 
as far as the South Sea, while Great Britain might be fup- 
pofed to have referved to herfelf her right to the lands about 
the river Ohio, and the five great lakes, Ontario, Erie, 
Ilurort, Michigan, and Superior ; and, in general, to all 
that extenfive country which, by the Act of Parliament of 
the year 1774, for regulating the government of the province 
of Quebec, was added to the former territory of that pro- 
vince. The limits, therefore, of the provinces, or terri- 
tories, intended to be ceded to thefe new {lates, ought to 
be diflinclly fpeclfied, as well as the King's rights over the 
faid territories, to be exprefsly ceded to them. 

Further, if the Act were made in the manner here fug- 
g^W^d, that is, fo as not immediately to grant Indepen- 
dency to the Americans while they are yet in arms againft 

us. 



64 

us, and we are not abfclutely certain that they will lay-dowri 
their arms in confequence of the conceffion, but only to 
enable the King to grant it to them, if he, in his royal wifdom, 
Jhallfo think fity the parliament would avoid encroaching on 
the royal prerogative of making war and peace, and would 
only inveft the King with the fame compleat power of making 
peace with his revolted fubjects in North-America, which 
he already enjoys by the Law, or Conflitution, with refpect 
to all the other ftates with whom we are at war; which 
power of making peace or war, it is generally thought, can 
be better exercifed by the King alone, than by the King and 
Parliament conjointly. And, if his Majefty, after being 
thus enabled by his Parliament, mould think fit to direct 
his minifter at Paris to make this important conceffion to 
the Americans, the Americans would not have the fmalleft 
fcruple concerning either its extent or its validity, but would 
proceed with confidence to treat of the other articles that 
might be neceffary to a general peace with them and their 
allies. 

I am, 

Your moll humble fervant, 

PACIFICUS. 
F. M. 



6h 

THE 

FIRST ROYAL CHARTER 

gHanted to the 
COLONY OF THE MASSACHUSETTS BAY, 

IN NORTH AMERICA, 

IN THE FOURTH YEAR OF THE REIGN OF KING CHARLES THE FIRST; 

From the first Copy of it that was ever published in print, which 
was printed by the Direction of the late Mr. Israel Mauduit, 
about the year 1775*. 



CHARLES, by the Grace of God, King of England, 
Scotland, France, and Ireland, Defender of the 
Faith, &c. 

To all to whom thefe Prefents fhall come, Greeting* 

Whereas our moft deare and royal Father, King Recital of 
James, of blefled memory, by his Highnefs's letters James's 
patents beareing date at Weftminfter the third day of f^cei of 
November, in the eighteenth year of his reiffn, hath Plymouth. 

9 & J ' & . Novem. 3, 

given and granted unto the Councel eftablifhed atisJac. i. 
Plymouth in the county of Devon, for the planting, 
ruling, ordering, and governing, of New-England in 
America, and to their heirs and fucceffours and affignes 
for ever : All that part of America lying and being, in Description 
breadth, from fourty degrees of northerly latitude from granted. 
the equinoctiall line, to fourty-eight degrees of the faid 
northerly latitude inclufively, and, in length, of and 

* This first Charter of the Massachusets Colony has never 
been printed. There are very few Manuscript Copies of it,. 
Those are liable to so many accidents that it is thought proper 
to publish it as the most likely means of preventing it's beins; 
irrecoverably lost.— From Mi\ Maiuhiifs printed copy of this 
Charter, 



66 

within all the breadth aforefaid throughout the mainc 
lands from fea to fea, together alfo with all the firme 
lands, foyles, grounds, havens, ports, rivers, waters, 
fi filings, mines, and mineralls, as well royall mines of 
gould and filver, as other mines and mineralls, precious 
ftones, quarries, and all and lingular other commodities, 
jurisdictions, privileges, franchifes and preheminences, 
both within the faid tracl: of land upon the maine, and 

Provisoe. a lfo within the iflands and feas adjoining. Provided 
always that the faid iflands, or any the premiiTes by the 
faid letters patent intended and meant to be granted 
were not then actually porTeiled or inhabited by any 
other chriftian prince, or ftate, nor within the bounds, 
limits, or territories of the fouthern colonies, then 
before granted by our faid deare father to be planted 
by divers of his loving fubjecls in the fouthern parts. 

Habendum. To have, and to hold, pofTefs, and enjoy all and lingu- 
lar the aforefaid continent, lands, territories,- iflands, 
hereditaments, and precincts, feas, waters, Millings, 
with all and all manner their commodities, royalties, 
liberties, preheminences, and profits that fliould from 
thenceforth arife from thence, with all and lingular 
their appurtenances, and every part and parcel thereof, 
unto the faid Councel, and their fucceflbrs and afnVnes 
for ever, to the fole and proper ufe, benefit, and behoof 
of them, the faid Councel, and their fucceflbrs and 

Tenure. affignes, forever : To be houlden of our faid mod dear 
and royal Father, bis heirs and fuccefTors, as of his ma- 
nor of Eaft- Greenwich in the county of Kent, in free 
and common foccage, and not in Capite nor by knights' 
fervice. Yielding and paying therefore to the faid Tate 
King, his heirs and fucceflbrs, the fifth part of the oare 
of gould and filver, which fhould from time to time^ 
and at all times thenafter happen to be found, gotten., 

had, 



had, and obtained, in, at, or within, any of the faid 
lands, limits, territories, and precin£ts, or in or within 
any part or parcel thereof, for, or in refpect of, all and 
all manner of duties, demands, and fervices whatfoever, 
to be done, made, or paid, to our faid dear Father the 
late King, his heirs and fucceflbrs ; as in and by the 
faid letters patent (amongft fundry other claufes, pow- 
ers, privileges, and grants therein contained) more at 
large appeareth. 

And whereas che laid Councel eftablifhed at Plymouth Recital of 
in the county of Devon, for the planting, ruling, order- theprovince 
ing and governing, of New-England in America, have, °a C v ^Jf 5 " 
by their deed indented under their common feal, bearing bay, (being 
date the nineteenth day of March laft paft, in the third premisses 
year of our reign, given, granted, bargained, fold, enfe- (i e o ^J ™£"" 

offed, aliened and confirmed, to Sir Henry Rofewell, Sir thecouacti 

J of Ply- 

John Young, knights, Thomas Southcott, John Hum- mouth, to 

frey, John Endieott and Symon Whetcomh, their heirs RosevveU 7 
and afTociates forever, all that part of New-England in ?^°u heis * 
America aforefaid which lieth and extendeth between a a Car. 1. 
great river there commonly called Monomack, alias Mer- 
rimack, and a certain other river there called Charles 
river, being the bottom of a certain bay there commonly 
called Maflachufetts, alias Mattachufetts, alias Mafia- 
tufetts, bay, and alfo all and fingular thofe lands and 
hereditaments whatfoever lying and being within the 
fpace of three Engliuh miles on the fouth part of the 
faid Charles river, or of any or every part thereof, and 
alfo all and fingular the lands and hereditaments what- 
foever, lying and being within the fpace of three En- 
gli£h miles to the fouthward of the fouthernmoft part of 
the faid bay called Maflachufetts, alias Mattachufetts., 
alias Maflatufetts, bay, and alfo all thofe lands and 
hereditaments which lye and be within the space of 
F a three 



68 

three Englifh miles to the northward of the faid rivef 
called Monomack, alias Merrimack, or to the north- 
ward of any and every part thereof, and all lands and 
hereditaments whatfoever, lying within the limits 
aforefaid, north and fouth, in latitude and breadth, and 
in length and longitude, of and within all the breadth 
aforefaid, throughout the main lands there, from the 
Atlantic and weftern fea and ocean on the eaft part to 
the fouth fea on the weft part, and all lands and grounds, 
place and places, foils, wood and wood grounds, ha- 
vens, ports, rivers, waters, fillings, and hereditaments 
whatfoever, lying within the faid bounds and limits, 
and every part and parcel thereof, and alfo all i (lands 
lyinj; in i^merica aforefaid in the faid feas, or either of 
them, on the weftern e or eafterne coaits or parts of the 
faid tracts of lands bv the faid indenture mentioned to 
be given, granted, bargained, fold, enfeoffed, aliened 
and conBrmed, or any of them : And alfo all mines and 
mineraJTs, as well royal! mines of gould and filver, as 
other mines and mineralls whatfoever, in the faid land& 
and premiiTes or any part thereof: And all jurisdictions, 
rights, royalties, liberties, freedoms, immunities, privi- 
ledges, franchifes, preheminences, and commodities 
whatfoever, which they the faid Councel eftabliflied at 
Plymouth in Che county of Devon for the planting, rul- 
ing, ordering, and governing, of New-England in Ame- 
rica, then had, or might ufe, exercife, or enjoy, in 
and within the faid lands and premifles by the faid inden- 
ture mentioned to be given, granted, bargained, fould, 
enfeoffed and confirmed, or in, or within, any part or 
[ibcudum. parcel thereof. To have and to hould the faid part of 
New-England in America which lyeth and extends 
and is abutted as aforefaid, and every part and parcel 
thereof j And all the faid iflands, rivers, ports, havens, 

waters, 



69 

waters., timings, mines and minerals, jurifdi&ions, 
franchife?, royalties, liberties, p-riviledges, com modi- 
ties, hereditaments and premhTes whatfoever, vvith the 
appurtenances, unto the faid Sir Henry Rofewell, Sir 
John Younge, Thomas Southcott, John Humfrey, 
John Endicott and Symon Whetcomb, their heirs and 
affignes, and their aflbciates, to the only proper and 
abfolute ufe and behoof of the faid Sir Henry Rofewell, 
Sir John Younge, Thomas Southcott, John Humfrey, 
John Endecott and Symon Whetcomb, their heires 
and affignes, and aflbciates forevermore. To be houlden Tenure, 
of us, our heirs and succeflbrs, as of our mannor of 
Eaft Greenwich in the county of Kent, in free and 
common foccage and not in Capite, nor by knights 
fervice ; yielding and paying therefore unto us our Rent, 
heirs and fucceflbrs, the fifth part of the oare of gould 
and filver which mall from time to time and at all 
limes hereafter happen to be found, gotten, had and 
obtained, in any of the faid lands within the faid li- 
mits, or in or within any part thereof, for and in fatis- 
f action of all manner of duties, demands and fervices 
whatfoever, to be done, made or paid to us, our heirs 
or fucceflbrs, as in and bv the faid recited indenture 
more at large may appear. 

Now know ye, that we at the humble fuite and peti- 
tion of the faid Sir Henry Rofewell, Sir John Younge, 
Thomas Southcott, John Humfrey, John Endecott and 
Symon Whetcomb, and of others whom they have affb- 
ciated unto them, Have, for divers good eaufes and con- Confirma- 
fiderations us moving, granted and confirmed, and by s?l id ^st-re- 
thefe prefents, of our efpeciall grace, certain knowledge, £y C t heking, 
and meere motion, do grant and confirm, unto the faid 
Sir Henry Rofewell, Sir John Younge, Thomas South- 
cott, John Humfrey, John Endecott, and Simon Whet- 

f 3 combe, 



70 

combe, and to their aflociates hereafter named ( videlicet j 
Sir Richard Saltonftall, Km. Ifaac Johnfon, Samuel Al- 
derfey. John Ven, Matthew Craddock, George Harwood, 
Increafe Nowell, Richard Perry, Richard Bellingham, 
Nathaniel Wright, Samuel Vaflall, Theophilus Eaton, 
Thomas Goffe, Thomas Adams, John Browne, Samuel 
Browne, Thomas Rutchins, William VafThll, William 
Pinchon, and George Foxcroft, their heirs and aflignes, 
all the faid part of New England in America, lyeing and 
extending betweene the bounds and limits in the faid 
recited indenture exprefled 3 and all lands and ground?, 
place and places, foyles, wood and wood grounds, 
havens, ports, rivers, waters, mines, mineralls, 
- jurisdictions, rights, royalties, liberties, freedoms, 
immunities, priviledges, franchifes, preheminences, 
hereditaments and commodities, whatfoever, to them 
the faid Sir Henry RofewelL Sir John Younge, Thomas 
Southcott, John Humfrey, John Endecott and Simon 
Whetcombe, their heirs and affignes, and to their aflb- 
ciates, by the faid recited indenture given, granted, bar- 
gained, fould, enfeoffed, aliened, and confirmed, or men- 
tioned or intended thereby to be given, granted, bargain- 
Habendum. ed, fould,, enfeoffed, aliened, and confirmed. To have 
and to houid the faid part of New-England in America 
and the other premifles hereby mentioned to be granted 
and confirmed, and every part or parccll thereof, with 
the appurtenances, unto the faid Sir Henry Rofewell, 
Sir John Younge, Sir Richard Saltonftall, Thomas 
Southcott, John Humfrey, John Endecott, Symon 
Whetcombe, Ifaac Johnfon, Samuel Alderfey, John 
Ven, Matthew Craddock, George Harwood, In- 
creafe Nowell, Richard Perry, Richard Bellingham, 
Nathaniel Wright, Samuel Va flail, Theophilus Eaton, 
Thomas Goffe, Thomas Adams, John Browne, Sa- 
muel 



71 

rauel Browne, Thomas Hutchins, William Vaffal, 
William Pinchon, and George Fox croft, their heirs 
and aflignes for ever, to their only proper and abfolute 
ufe and behoof for evermore. To be houlden of us, Tenure, 
our heirs and fuceeffors, as of our mannor of Eaft 
Greenwich aforefaid, in free and common foceage, and 
not in Capite nor by knights' fervice; and alfo yielding Rent. 
and paying therefore to us, our heirs and fuceeffors, the 
fifth part only of all oare of gould and filver, which 
from time to time, and at all times hereafter, ihall be 
there gotten, had, or obtained, for all fervices, exac- 
tions, and demands whatsoever, according to the tenure 
and refervation m the faid recited indenture expreffed. 

And further know ye, that, of our more efpecial grace, Grant of 
certain knowledge, and meere motion, we have given ^^0? fand 
and granted, and by thefe prefents do, for us, our heirs, to lhe same 

b . r . . persons by 

and fucceffors, give and grant, unto the faid Sir Henry the king 
Rofewell, Sir John Younge, Sir Richard Saltonilall, irase 
Thomas Southcott John Humfrey, John Endecott, 
Simon Whetcombe, Ifaac Johnfon, Samuel Alderfty, 
John Ven, Matthew Craddock, George Harwood, 
Increafe Nowell, Richard Perry, Richard Bellingham, 
Nathaniel Wright, Samuel Vaffal 1, Theophilus Eaton, 
Thomas Goffe, Thomas Adams, John Browne, Samuel 
Browne, Thomas Hutchins, William Vaffall, William 
Pinchon, and George Foxcroft, their heirs and affignes, 
all that part of New-England in America which lies 
and extends between a great river there, commonly 
called Monomack river, alias Merrvmack river, and a 
certain other river there called Charles river, being; in 
the bottom of a certain bay there commonly called 
Maffachufetts, alias Mattachusets, alias Maffatufets, 
&ay, and alfo all and lingular thofe lands and heredi- 

f 4 taments 



taments whatsoever lyeing within the ipace of three 
Engliih miles on the fouth part of the fard river called 
Charles river, or of any or every part thereof, and alfo 
all and Angular the lands and hereditaments whatfoever 
lyeing and being within the fpace of three Engliih 
miles to the fouth of the fomhermoft. part of the 
faid bay called MafTachufetts, alias Mattachufetts, 
alias MatTatufetts, bay; and alfo all thofe lands and 
hereditaments whatfoever, which lye and be within 
the fpace of three Engliih miles to the northward of the 
faid river called Monomack, alias Merrymack, or to 
the northward of any, and every part thereof, and all 
lands and hereditaments whatfoever lyeing within the 
limits aforefaid north and fouth in latitude and breadth, 
and in length and longitude of and within all the 
breadth aforefaid throughout the maine lands there 
from the Atlantickand weftern fea and ocean on the 
eaft part, to Use fouth Tea op the weft parte, and all 
lands and grounds, place and places, foyles, wood, and 
wood grounds, havens, ports, rivers, waters, and here- 
ditaments whatfoever lyeing within the faid bounds 
and limits, and every part and parcel thereof, and alfo 
all rflands in America aforefaid in the faid feas or 
either of them on the weftern or eaftern coaftes, or 
partes of the faid trails of lands hereby mentioned to 
be given or granted, or any of them, and all mines and 
mineralls, as well royall mines of gould and fiiver as 
other mines and mineralls whatfoever, in the faid 
lands and premhTes, or any part thereof; and free li- 
berty of fl filing in or within any of the rivers or waters 
within the bounds and limits arorefaid and the feas 
thereunto adjoining ; and all fifties, royal fifhes, 
whales, balan, fturgeon, and other fifhes of what kind 

or 



n 



or nature foever that (hall at any time hereafter be ta- 
Ken in or within the faid feas or waters or any of them, 
by the laic 1 Sir Henry Rofewell, Sir John Younge, Sir 
Richard Saltonftall, Thomas Southcott, John Hum- 
frey, John Endecott, Symon Whetcombe, Ifaac John- 
Ton, Samuel Alderfey, John Ven, Matthew Craddock, 
George Harwood, Increafe Nowell, Richard Perry, 
Richard Bellingham, Nathaniel Wright, Samuel Vaf- 
fall, Theophilus Eaton, Thomas Goffe, Thomas Adams, 
John Browne, Samuel Browne, Thomas Hutchins, 
William Vafiall, William Pinchon, and George 
Foxcroft, their heirs and affignes, or by any other 
perfon, or perfons whatfoever there inhabiting, by theim 
or any of them, appointed to flm therein. Provided Provisoe. 
always, that, if the faid lands, iflands, or any other 
the premiffes herein before mentioned, and by thefe 
prefents intended and meant to be granted, were at the 
time of the granting of the faid former letters patents 
dated the third day of November, in the eighteenth 
yeare of our faid deare father's reigne aforefaid, actually 
poffeffed, or inhabited, by any other ehriftian prince or 
flate, or were within the bounds, limits, or territories 
of that foutherne colonie then before granted by our 
faid late father, to be planted by divers of his loving 
fubjecTs in the fouth parts of America, that then this 
prefent grant (hall not extend to any fuch parts or 
parcells thereof, fo formerly inhabited or lyeing within 
the bounds of the fouthern plantation as aforefaid, but 
as to thofe parts or parcells fo poffelTed or inhabited 
by fuch ehriftian prince or ftate, or being within the 
bounds aforefaid, mail be utterly voide, thefe prefents 
or any thing therein contained, to the contrary not- 
withstanding. To have, and to houl-d, poflefs, and Habendum. 

enjoy 



74 

enjoy, the faid parts of New-England in America, 
which lye, extend, and are abutted as aforefaid, and 
every part and parcel 1 thereof, and all the iflands, rivers, 
ports, havens, waters, fifhings, fifties, mines, minerals, 
jurifdi<$tions, franchifes, royalties, liberties, privileges, 
commodities, and preimffes whatfoever, with the ap- 
purtenances, unto the faid Sir Henry Rofeweil, Sir 
John Younge, Sir Richard Saltonftall, Thomas South* 
cott, John Hnmfrey, John Endecott, Symon Whet- 
combe, Ifaac Jobnfon, Samuel Alderfey, John Ven, 
Matthew Crao'dock, George Harwood, I ncreafe Newell, 
Richard Perry, Richard Bellingham, Nathamell 
Wright, Samuel VafTall, Theophilus Eaton, Thomas 
Gone, Thomas Adams, John Browne, Samuel Browne, 
Thomas Hutchins, William VafTall, William Pinchon, 
and George Foxcroft, their heirs and affignes for ever, 
to the only proper and abfolute ufe and behoofe of the 
faid Sir Henry Rofeweil, Sir John Younge, Sir Richard 
Saltonftall, Thomas Southcott, John Hurnfrey, John 
Endecott, Symon Whetcombe, Ifaac Johnfon, Samuel 
Alderfey, John Ven, Matthew Craddock, George 
Harwood, Increafe Nowell, Richard Perry, Richard 
Bellingham, Nathaniel Wright, Samuel VafTall, Theo- 
philus Eaton, Thomas GofTe, Thomas Adams 3 John 
Browne, Samuel Browne, Thomas Hutchins, William 
VafTall, William Pinchon, and George Foxcrofte, 

Tenure, their heirs and afllgnes forevermore. To be houlden of 
us, our heires and fuccefTours, as of our mannor of Eaft 
Greenwich in the county of Kent, within our realme 
of England, in free and common foccage, and not in 

Rent. Capite, nor by knights' fervice, and alfo yeelding and 

. paying therefore to us, our heirs and fuccefTors, the fifth 

part only of all oare of gould and filver, which from 

time 



75 



time to time, and at all times hereafter, (hall be there 
gotten, had, or obtained, for all fervices, exactions, 
and demands whatsoever. Provided alwayes and our 
exprefife will and meaneing is, that onely one-fifth part of 
the gould and filveroare above mentioned in the whole, 
and no more, be referved or payeable unto us, our 
heirs and fucceflburs, by colour or vertue of thefe 
prefents, the double refervations or recitals aforefaid, 
or any thing therein contained notwithftanding. 

And, for as much as the good and piofperous fuccefs of Necessity 
the plantation of the faid parts of New-England afore- govern- 
faid, intended by the faid Sir Henry Rofewell, Sir John ™ entto 

7 J J the success 

Younge, Sir Richard Saltonitall, Thomas Southcott, ofthein- 
John Humfrey, John Endecott, Symon Whetcombe, tation. 
Ifaac Johnfon, Samuel Alderfey, John Ven, Matthew 
Craddock, George Harwood, Increafe Nowell, Richard 
Perry, Richard Bellingham, Nathaniell Wright, 
Samuel VafTall, Theophilus Eaton, Thomas GofTe, 
Thomas Adams, John Browne, Samuel Browne, 
Thomas Hutchins, William Vaflal, William Pinchon, 
and George Foxcroft, to be fpeedily fet-upon, cannot 
but chiefely depend, next under the bleffing of Al- 
mighty God and the fupport of our royal authority, 
upon the good government of the fame $ to the end 
that the affairs and bufineffes which from time to time 
(hall happen and arife concerning the faid lands and 
the plantation of the fame, may be the better managed 
and ordered : We have further hereby, of our efpeciall Incorpora- 

, . , , , , . . tion of the 

grace, certain knowledge, and meere motion, given, gra nteesot 
granted, and confirmed, and for us, our heirs and fuccef- 5 he * aid 
fours, do give, grant and confirme, unto our faid truftie 
and well-beloved fubjecls Sir Henry Rofewell, Sir John 
Younge, Sir Richard Saltonftall, Thomas Southcott, 
Jojin Humfrey, John Endecott, Symon Whetcomb, 

Ifaae 



76 

Ifaac Johnfon, Samuel Alderfey, John Ven, Matthew 
Craddock, George Harwood, Increafe Nowell, Richard 
Perry, Richard Bellingham, Nathaniel Wright, Sa- 
muel Vaffall, Theophilus Eaton, Thomas Goffe, 
Thomas Adams, John Browne, Samuel Browne, 
Thomas Hutchins, William Vaffall, William Pinchon, 
and George Foxcrof't, and for us, our heires and fuccef- 
fours, wee will and ordaiue : That the faid Sir Henry 
Rofeweil, Sir John Younge, Sir Richard Saltonitall, 
Thomas South cott, John Humirey, John Endecott, 
Symon Wheicomb, Ifaac Johnfon, Samuel Alderfey, 
John Ven, Matthew Craddock, George Harwood, 
Increafe Nowell, Richard Perry, Richard Bellingham, 
Nathaniell Wright, Samuel Vaffall, Theophilus Eaton, 
Thomas GofTe, Thomas Adams, John Browne, Samuel 
Browne, Thomas Hutchins, William Vaffall, William 
Pinchon, and George Foxcroft, and all fuch others as 
mall hereafter be admitted and made free of the com- 
panie and fociety hereafter mentioned, mail, from time 
to time, and at all times forever hereafter, be, by virtue 
of thefe prefents, one body corporate and politique in 
Name of the facl: and name, by the name of the Governor find Com- 
tion!' 01 panie of the Maffachufetts Bay in New-England : And 
them by the name of the Governor and Companie of 
the Majjfachufetts Bay iu New -England, one body 
politique and corporate in deed, facT, and name, wee 
doe, for us, our heirs, and fucceffours, make, ordaine, 
Perpetual conftitute, and confirme by thefe prefents \ and that 
succession. ^ t ^ at name they fl^u ^ve p er petuall fucceffion; 

and that by the fame name they and their fucceffors 
Capacity to (hall and may be capable and enabled, as well to im- 
a^tobe pleade and to be impleaded, and to profecute, demand, 
impleaded. anc i an f W er, and be anfwered-unto, in all and lingular 

fuites, 



77 

fuites, caufes, quarrels, and actions, of what kind and 

nature foever ; And alfo to have, take, pofTeffe, acquire C *j£* to 

and purchafe any lands, tenements, and hereditaments, lands or 

or any goods, or chattells, and the fame to leafe, grant, to grant or 

demife, alien, bargain, fell, and difpofe of, as other our se tiem ' 

leige people of this our realme of England, or aay 

other corporation or body politique of the fame, may 

lawfully doe. And further that the faid Governor 

and companie and their fuccelTors may have forever 

one common feale to be ufed in all caufes and occa- A common 

Seal. 

{ions of the faid Companie, and the fame feale may 
alter, change, break and new-make from time to time 
at their pleafures. 

And our will and pleafure is, and we do hereby, for The go- 
us, our heirs, and fucceflbrs, ordaine and grant, that of'h^saki 
from henceforth for ever there (hall be one Governor, corporation, 
one deputy-Governor, and eighteen Afiiftants, of the 
faid Companie to be from time to time conftituted, 
elected and chofen out of the freemen of the faid Com- a Governor 
panie for the time beinge, in fuch manner and forme ™ dei s n t eeR 
as hereafter in thefe prefents is exprefled, Which faid 
officers (hall apply themfelves to take care for the bed Their powes 
difpoiing and ordering of the generall bufinefs and an aty ' 
affaires of, for, and concerning, the faid lands and pre- 
miums hereby mentioned to be granted, and the planta- 
tion thereof, and the government of the people there. 

And for the better execution of our royall pleafure and 
grant in this behalfe, we do by thefe prefents, for us, our Nomination 
heires, and fucceflbrs, nominate, ordain, make, and con- ° f the firs V 

7 " V a Governor & 

ftitu+e our well-beloved, the faid Matthew Craddock, to Assistants. 
be thefirft and prefent Governor of the faid Companie, 
and the faid Thomas Goffe to be deputy-Governor of the 
faid Companie,and the faidSirRichard Saltonftall, Ifaac 
Johnfon, Samuel Alderfey, John Vsn, John Humfrey, 

John 



78 

John Endecott, Symon Whetcombe, Increafe Nowel!> 
.Richard Perry, Nathaniel Wright, Samuel Vaffal], 
Theophilus Eaton, Thomas Adams, Thomas Hutchins 5 
John Browne, George Foxcroft, William Vaffall, and 
William Pinchon, to be the prefent Affirmants of the 
faid Companie, to continue in the faid feveral offices 
refpe&ively for fuch time and in fuch manner as in 
and by thefe prefents is hereafter declared and appointed. 
Power to as- -And further we will, and, by thefe prefents, for uSj 
said compa- our heires, and fnccefTors, do ordaine and grant that the 
n y* Governor of the faid Companie for the time being, or 

in his abfence, by occafion of ficknefs or otherwife, 
the deputy-Governor for the time being, (hall have au- 
thority from time to time upon all occafions to gice 
order for the aflembling of the faid Companie^ and 
calling them together to confult and advife of the 
butinefs and affaires of the faid Companie. 
Monthly And that the faid Governor, deputy-Governor, and 

sembiies of Affiftantsof the faid Companie for the time being (hall, 
nour ancT" or ma y? once every month, or oftener at their pleafures, 
Assistants, afiemble and hould and keep a court, or alTembly of 
themfelves, for the better ordering and directing of their 
affairs. And that any feven, or more, perfons of the Af- 
firmants, together with the Governor, or deputy-Gover- 
nor, fo alTembled (hall be faid, taken, held, and reputed 
to be, and {hall be, a full and fufficient court or affem- 
bly of the faid Company, for the handling, ordering, and 
difpatching of all fuch bufinelles and occurrents, a-s 
(hall from time to time happen, touching or concerning 
Four gene- the faid Companie or plantation. And that there 
rat courts of ma | j beheld and kept bv the Governor or 

the said > J7 . 

company in deputy- Governor of the faid Companie, and feven, or 
more, of the faid Affiftanls for the time being, upon 
every Uft Wednefday in Hillary, Eafter, Trinity and 

Michael- 



19 

Michaelmas Terms refpe&ively for ever, one great, 
generall and folemn afTembly ; which four general! 
afferablies fhall be ftyled and called the four e great e 
and generall courts of the [aid Company : In all or any 
of which faid greate and generall courts fo affembled, 
We do, for us, our heires and fucceflburs, give and 
grant to the faid Governour and Companie and theire 
fucceflburs, that the Governour, or in his abfence the 
deputy- Governour, of the faid Companie for the time 
being, and fuch of the Afliftants and freemen of the 
faid Companie as fhall be prefent, or the greater numf- 
ber of them fo aflembled, (whereof the Governour or 
deputy-Governour, and fix of the Afliftants at the 
leaft, to be feven,) fhall have full power and authority Power to 
to choofe, nominate, and appoint fuch and fo many men f tne . 
others as they fliall thinke fitt, and that fhall be willing said com " 

/ * ° pany. 

to accept the fame, to be free of the faid Company and 

Body, and them into the fame to admit: and to elecl And to elect 

} J . officers of 

and conftitute fuch officers as they {hall thinke fitt and the same, 
requifite for the ordering, managing, and difpatching 
of the affaires of the faid Governor and Companie and 
theire fucceflburs : and to make lawes and ordinances And to 
for the good and welfare of the faid Companie, and and ordi- 
for the government and ordering of the faid lands and ^ C ^J^. 

plantation, and the people inhabiteing and to inhabite the said 

r • • n iaws not be " 

the fame, as to them from time to time fhall be thought ingrepug- 

meete : So as fuch lawes and ordinances be not con- {1^^ c 

trary or repugnant to the laws and ftatutes of this our En gl and < 

real me of England. 

And our will and pleafure is, and we do hereby The Gover- 

for us, our heirs and fucceflburs, eftablifh and or- deputy- 

daine ; That yearely once in the yeare forever here- an^a^st-' 

after, namely, the laft Wednefday in Eafter terme ants > sha11 

/ ■ J be chosen 

yearely* the Governour, deputy-Governour and Aflift- every year at 

.„ Eastef. 

ants 



80 

&nts of the laid Companie > and all other officer? 

of the faid Companie (hall be, in the general! court, 

or afTemblie, to be held for that day or time, newly 

chofen for the yeare infueing by fuch greater part of 

the faid Companie for the time being, then and there 

prefent, as is aforefaid. 

Manner of And if it (hall happen that the prefent Governour, de- 

vacancies § in puty-Governour and Affiftants by thefe prefents appoint- 

the offices ec j or f uc h as ma ]j hereafter be newly chofen into their 

of the said ' J 

company rooms, or any of them, or any other of the officers to be 

by deaths or appointed for the faid Companie, {hall die, or be removed 

removals. f rom n j s or x\^\x feverall offices or places before the faid 

generall day of election, (whom we do hereby declare for 

Power given any mifdemeanor, or defect, to be removable by the Go- 
to the com- 
pany to re- vernour, deputy-Governor, Alii [rants, and Companie, 

^cers for" or f Qca g reater P art °f them in any of the publick 
misbehavi- CO urts to be afTembled as is aforefaid) that then, and 
in every fuch cafe it ihall and may be lawfull to 
and for the Governor, deputy- Governor, Affiftants, and 
Companie, aforefaid, or fuch greater part of them 
fo to be afTembled as is aforefaid, in any of their af- 
femblies, to proceed to a new election of one or 
more others of their company, in the rooms or 
places of fuch officer or officers fo dyeing or removed, 
according to their discretions. And immediately upon 
and after fuch election and elections made of fuch Go- 
vernour, deputy-Governour, Affiftant, or Affiftants, or 
any other officer of the faid Companie, in manner and 
forme aforefaid, the authority, office, and power before 
given to the former Governour, deputy-Governour, 
or other officer and officers, fo removed, in whofe ftead 
and place new officers fhall be fo chofen, (hall, as to him 
and them, and every of them, ceafe and determine. 

Provided 



©ur. 



81 

Provided alfo, and our will and pleafure is, that as well The officers 

. v of the com- 

fuch as arc by thefe prefents appointed to be the prefent pa ny shall 
Governour, deputy- Go vernour, and Affiftants of the ^ a f ^"^ * 
faid Companie, as thofe that {hall fucceed them, and 
all other officers to be appointed and chofen. as aforefaid, 
fhall, before they undertake the execution of their faid 
offices and places refpe&ively, take their corporal 
oathes for their due and faithful performance of their 
duties in iheir feverall offices and places, before fuch 
perfon or perfons as are by thefe prefents hereunder 
appointed to take and receive the fame, that is to fay, 
the faid Matthew Craddock, who is hereby nominated 
and appointed the prefent Governour of the faid Com- 
panie, fhall take the faid oathes before one or more of 
the Matters of our Court of Chancery for the time be- 
ing, unto which Mafter or Mafters of the Chancery 
we do by thefe prefents give full power and authority 
to take and adminifter the faid oath to the faid Gover- 
nour accordingly. And after the faid Governour fhaU 
be fworne^ then the faid deputy-Governour and Affirm- 
ants before by thefe prefents nominated and appointed, 
fhall take the faid feveral oathes, to their offices and 
places refpectively belonging, before the faid Matthew 
Craddock the prefent Governour, fo fworne as afore- 
faid. And every fuch perfon as fhall at the time of the 
annual election, or otherwife, upon death or removal!, 
be appointed to be the new Governour of the faid 
Companie, fhall take the oathes to that place belonging, 
before the deputy-Governour or two of the Affirmants 
of the faid Companie, at the leaft, for the time being. 
And the new-elected deputy-Governour and Affirmants, 
and all other officers to be hereafter chofen as aforefaid 
from time to time, fhall take the oathes to their places 
refpecYively belonging before the Governour of the faid 

g Companie 



82 

Companie for the time being, Unto which faid Go- 
vernour, deputy- Governour, and Affiftants, we do by 
thefe prefents give full power and authority to give and 
adminifier the faid oatbes refpe lively, according to the 
true meaning herein before-declared, without any com- 
miflion or further warrant to.be had and obtained of us, 
oar heirs, and fuccefifors, in that behalfe. 
rower to And we do further, of our efpeciall grace, certain 

carry over ,-, , j i r , • i 

to New knowledge, and meere motion, tor us, our heirs, ana 
England fucceiTours, eive and grant to the faid Governour and 

such per- - a 

sons as are Companie, and their fucceffbrs, for ever, by thefe prefents, 

willing to . .. . . „ ' ii- r 

go thither; that it thai I be lawrul and rree tor them and their ai- 
withcattie % ne? j at a '- an(lt every time and times hereafter, put of 
and other anv f our realmes and dominions whatfoever, to take, 

things ne- 
cessary for lead, carry, and tranfport for, in, and into their voyages, 

'ence. blJ,c ~ and for and towards the faid plantation in New- Eng- 
land, all fuch and fo many of our loving fubje&s, or 
any Grangers that will become our loving fubjects, 
and live under our allegiance, as (hall willingly accom- 
pany them in the fame voyages and plantation, and alfo 
(hipping* armour, weapons, ordinance, ammunition, 
powder, fhott, corne, victuals, and all manner of 
clothing, implements, furniture, beafts, cattle, horfes, 
mares, merchandizes, and all other things neceffary for 
t-he faid plantation, and for their ufe and defence, and for 
trade with the people there, and in paffing and returning 
to and fro, any law or ftatute to the contrary hereof in 
Exemption an Y W1 ^ e notwithstanding, and without paying or yeeld- 
from the j llg: any cu ft me or fubfidie, either inward or outward, to 

payment of t> J 

customs or us> our heirs, or fucceuours, for the fame, by the fpace of 

England for feven veares from the day of the date of thefe prefents. 

seven Provided that none of the faid perfons be fuch as {hall 

be hereafter by fpecial name reftrained by us, our heires, 

and fucceffours. 

And 



83 
And for their further encouragement, of our efpecial Exemption 

& % from taxes 

grace and favour, we do, by thefe prefents, for ufc, our and cus- 
heires, and fucceffours, yeeld and grant to the faid Go- New Eng ._ 
vernour and Companie, and their fucceffours, and every ^ d ^^f " 
of them, their factors and affignes, that they, and every and from all 
of them, mall be free and quit from all taxes, fubfidies, importation 
and cuftomes in New-England for the like fpace of fe- ^^of * 1 
ven yeares ; and from all taxes and impofitions for the s oods » ex ~ 

7 * cept 5 per 

fpace of twenty and one yeares upon all goods and mer- cent upon 

• it . '• , r "" . , goods im- 

caandiles at any time or times hereafter, either upon por tedinto 

importation thither, or exportation from thence, into f^^er^ 

our realme of England, or into anv ether of our domi- dominions 

. ' . . of the 

nions, by the faid Govern oar ; n nd Companie, and their crown, for 

fucceffours, their de£ i ; and affignes, or any tem J of 

of them, except only the five pounds per centum due twenty-one 

for cuftome upon all fuch goods and merchandifes, as 

after the faid feven yeares fhall be expired fhall be 

brought or imported into our realme of England, or 

any other of our dominions, according to the ancient 

trade of merchants, which five pounds per centum onely 

Proviso. 

being paid, it fhall be thenceforth lawful! and free for Liberty of 
the faid adventurers, the fame goods and merchandizes, ScsSd "*" 
to export and carry out of our faid dominions into for- f oods int0 
reign parts ,without any cuftome, taxe or other duty to_P arts > with " 
be paid to us, our heires and fucceffours, or to any months 
other officers or minifters of us, our heirs and fuccef- fi^Mand- 
fours. Provided that the faid goods and merchandizes in S- 
be fhipped-out within thirteen months after their firft 
landing within any part of the faid dominions. 

And we do, for us, our heires, and fucceflours, give 
and grant unto the faid Governour and Gompanie, and 
their fucceffours, that, whenfoever, or fo often as any 
cuftome or fubfidie (hall grow due or payable unto us, 
our heirs, and fucceffours, according to the limitation 

<? 2 and 



84 

and appointment aforefaid, by reafon of any goods, 
wares, or merchandifes to be fhipped-out, or any re- 
turn to he made of any goods, wares, or merchandifes, 
unto or from the faid parts of New-England hereby 
mentioned to be granted as aforefaid, or any the lands 
time Wall ana * territories aforefaid, that then and fo often and in 
for the Wed ^ UG ^ ca ^ e ^ e ^ armers > cuftomers, and officers of our cuf- 
paymentof tomes of England and Ireland, and every of them for 

one half of .... J 

the cua- the time being, upon requeft made to them by the faid 
Governourand Company, or their fucceflburs, factors, or 
afiignes, and upon convenient iecurity to be given in 
that behalfe, fhall give and allowe unto the faid Gover- 
nour and Companie and their fucceflburs, and to ail and 
every perfon or perfons free of that Companie as afore- 
faid, fix months time for the payment of the one halfe 
of all fuch cuftome and fubfidie as fhall be payable unto 
us, our heires, and fucceflburs, for the fame; for which 
thefe our letters patents, or the duplicate or the inroll- 
ment thereof, fhall be unto our faid officers a fuflicient 
Provision warrant and difcharge. Neverthelefs, our will and 
fraudulent P^ eamre lS > that any of the faid goods, wares, and mer- 
exportation chandifes, which be, or fhall be, at any time hereafter 

of goods to \ 

foreign landed or exported out of any of our realmes aforefaid, 

rinder a pre- and fhall be fhipped with a purpofe not to be carried to 

ry"ng°hem : ^ le P arts of New-England aforefaid, but to fome other 

to New- place, that then fuch payment, dutie, cuftome, impofi- 

tion, or forfeiture fhall be paid or belong to us, our 

heires and fucceflbrs, for the faid goods, wares and 

merchandife fo fraudulently fought to be tranfported, 

as if this our grant had not been made or granted. 

And we do furtherwill, and, by thefe prefents, for us, 
our heires and fucceflbrs, firmely enjoine and commande, 
as well the Treafurcr, Chancellor, and Barons of the 
Exchequer of us, our heires and fucceflbrs, as alfo all 

and 



85 
and fWular the cuftomers, farmers, and collectors of Warrant t« 

° 7 the offrcers 

the cuftomes, fubfidies, and impofts, and other the offi- oftheEx- 
cers and minifters of us, our heires, and fucceflbrs, cus^oms^o 
whatfoever for the time being, that they and every of g*-™^' 116 
them, upon the fhowinz-forth unto them of theie letters P ar >y &e 

,,"'■;.' A-r - c i r exemptions 

patents, or the duplicate or exemplification ot the lame, above-men- 
without any other writ or warrant whatfoever from us 5 
our heirs, or fucceflbrs, to be obtained or fued-forth, do 
and fhall make fall, whole, entire and due allowance 
and cleare difcharge unto the faid Governourand Com- 
panie, and theire fucceflbrs, of all cuftomes, fubfidies. 
impofitions, taxes, and duties whatfoever, that mall, or 
may, be claymed by us, our heires, and fucceflbrs^ 
of, or from, the faid Governour and Companie, and their 
fucceflbrs, for, or by reafon of, the faid goods, chattels, 
wares, merchandifes and premifes, to be exported out 
of our faid dominions, or any of them, into any part of the 
faid lands or premifes hereby mentioned to be given, 
granted, and confirmed, or for, or by reafon of, any of 
the faid goods, chattels, wares, or merchandifes, to be 
imported from the faid lands and premifes hereby men- 
tioned to be given, granted and confirmed, into any of 
our faid dominions, or any part thereof, as aforefaid, 
excepting only the faid five pounds per centum hereby 
referved and payable after the expiration of the faid 
terme of feven years as aforefaid, and not before. And 
thefe our letters patents, or the inrollment, duplicates, 
or exemplification of the fame, fhall for ever hereafter, 
from time to time, as well to the Treafurer, Chancellor, 
and Barons of the Exchequer of us, our heires, and fuc- 
ceflbrs, as to all and lingular the cuftomers, farmers, 
and collectors of the cuftoms, fubfidies, and impofts, 
of us, our heires, and fucceflbrs, and all fearchers ana 
other the officers and minifters whatfoever of us, our 
G 3 heire s - 



. 86 

heires, and fucceflbrs, for the time being, be a fuflficf- 
ent warrant and difcharge in this behalfe. 

shai S ?be that "^ nc * f urtner our W M an d pleafure is, and we doe 
bom in the hereby for us, our heires, and fucceflbrs, ordain, declare, 

lands here- , . 

by granted anci grant to the laid Governour and Companie, and 
considered thcire fuc ceiTors, That all and every the fubjeas of 

as natural us, our heires, or fucceflbrs, which fhall £oe to and in- 
born sub. ,,.... . b 
jcets* habite within the faid lands and premifles hereby men- 
tioned to be granted, and every of their children which 
fhall happen to be borne there, or on the feas in going 
thither or returning from thence, fhall have and enjoy 
all liberties and immunities of free and naturall fubjecls 
within any of the dominions of us, our heires, or fuc- 
ceflbrs, to all intents, conflructions, and purpofes what- 
soever, as if they and every of them were borne within 
Power to the realme of England. And that the Governour and 

administer ... 

the oaths of deputy- Governour of the faid Companie for the time 
and^upre- being, or either of them, and any two, or more, of fuch 
macy to the f t |. )e f jj Affiftants as fhall be thereunto appointed by 

persons who L * 

shall here- the faid Governour and Companie at any of their courts, 

after settle 

m the lands or aflemblies to be held as aforefaid, fhall and may, at 
granted. a ^ tymes, and from tyme to tyme, hereafter, have full 
power and authority to adminifter and give the oath 
and oathes of fupremacie and allegiance, or either 
of them, to all and every perfon or perfons which shall 
at any tyme, or tymes, hereafter goe or pafTe to the 
lands and premiflTes hereby mentioned to be granted, 
to inhabite in the fame. 
Power to And wee do, of our further grace, certaine knowledge, 

andord^ an ^ meere motion, give and grant to the faid Gover- 
nances, not nour anc j Companie, and their fucceflbrs, that it fhall 

contrary to r * 

the laws of and may be lawfull to and for the Governour, or deputy- 
Governour, and fuch of the Afliftants and Freemen of 
l be faid Companie for the tyme being as fhall be af. 

fembkd 



87 

iembled in any of their generall courts aforefaid, or in 
any other courts to be fpecially fummoned and aflem- 
bled for -that purpofe, or the greater part of them 
(whereof the Governour, or deputy-Governour, and five 
of the Affiftants, to be always feven) from tyme to tyme 
to make, ordaine, and eftablifh all manner of whoie- 
fome and reafohable orders, laws, ftatutes, and ordi- 
nances, directions and inftru&ionp, not contrary to 
the lawes of this our realme of England, as well for 
the fettling of the formes and ceremonies of govern- 
ment and magiftracie fitt and neceffary for the faid 
plantation and the inhabitants there, and for nameing 
and ftyling of all forts of officers both fuperiour and in- 
feriour, which they mail find needful for that govern- 
ment and plantation, and the diftinguiming and fetting- 
forth of the feverall duties, powers, and limits of every 
fuch office and place, and the formes of fuch oathes, war- 
rantable by the lawes and ftatutes of this our realme of 
England, as (hall be refpe&ively miniftred unto them, 
for the execution of the faid feveral offices and places ; 
as alfo for the difpofing and ordering of the elections of 
fuch of the faid officers as dial I be annuall, and of fuch 
others as mail be to fucceed in cafe of death or removal, 
and miniftring the faid oathes to the new-elec~ted officers; 
and for impofition of lawful fines, mulcls, imprifon- 
ment, or other lawful correction, according to the 
courfe of other corporations in this our realme of Eng- 
land ; and for the directing, ruleing, and difpofeing-of 
all other matters and things whereby our faid people 
inhabiting there may be fo religioufly, peaceably, and 
civilly governed, as their ixood life and orderly conver- 
sation may winne and invite the natives of that coun- 
try to the knowledge and obedience of the onely true 
God and Saviour of mankind, and the Chrittian faith, 

g 4 whicb 



88 

All such which in oar royall intention and the adventurers free 
lishe'd in profeffion is the principal end of this plantation. Will- 
under die * n S> commanding, and requiring, and by thefe prefents 
common f or us our heires and fuccefTors, ordaineina; and ap- 

sealofthe . .' 3 ^ 

company, pointing, that all fuch orders, lawes, ftatutes and or- 
served and ~ dinances, inftructions and directions, as {hall be made 
executed, j^ t ^ e Governour or deputy- Governour of the faid 
Company, and fuch of the Affiftants and Freemen as 
aforefaid, and publifhed in writing under theire com- 
mon feale, (hall be carefully and duely obferved, kept, 
performed, and putt in execution, according to the true 
intent and meaneing of the fame. And thefe our let- 
ters patents, or the duplicate, or exemplification, there- 
of, fhall be, to all and every fuch officers, fuperiour and 
inferiour, from tyme to tyme, for the putting of the fame 
orders, lawes, ftatutes and ordinances, inftructions and 
directions, in due execution, againft us, our heires and 
fuccefTors, a fufficient warrant and difcharge. 
The Gover- And we do further, for us, our heirs, and fuccefTors, 
nth 1 2 ofn- &* ve anc ^ S rant t0 tne ^d Governour and Companie, 
cers em- and their fuccefTors, by thefe prefents, That all and 

ployed by , 

tiecompa- every luch chiete commanders, captains, governours, 
I ndand° W " aR d other officers and minifters, as by the faid orders, 
shailgovem l awes ftatutes, ordinances, inftructions, or directions, 

the inrgbi- ' 3 7 

tants thereof of the faid Governour and Companie for the tyme be- 
t^thesaid ing, fhall be from tyme to tyme hereafter employed 
laws. either in the government of the faid inhabitants and 

plantation, or in the way by fea thither or from thence, 
according to the natures and limits of their offices and 
places reflectively, fhall from tyme to tyme hereafter 
forever within the precincts and parts of New-England 
hereby mentioned to be granted and confirmed, or in 
the way by fea thither, or from thence, have full and 
abfolute power and authority to correct, punifh, par- 
don, 



89 

don, governe and rule all fuch, the fubje&s of us, our 
heirs, and fucceflbrs, as fhall from tyme to tyme adven- 
ture themfelvesin any voyage thither or from thence, or 
that fhall at any tyme hereafter inhabite within the pre- 
cincts and parts of New-England aforefaid, according 
to the orders, lawes, ordinances, inftructions and di- 
rections aforefaid, not being repugnant to the lawes and 
iratutes of our realme of England as aforefaid. 

And wee do further, for us, our heires, and fuccef. p ower t0 
fors, give and grant to the faid Governour and Com- the officers 

; & _ b ; of the said 

panie, and theire fucceflbrs, by thefe prefents, That it company 
fhall and may be lawful to and for the chief comman- t he premis- 
ders, governours, and officers of the faid companie for ^^Td^d 
the tyme being, who (hall be refident in the faid part t0 the other 
of New-England in America by thefe prefents granted, of thesamc, 
and others there inhabiting, by their appointment themsdves 
and direction from tyme to tyme and at all tymes here- b ? for ceof 

J . arms against 

after, for their fpeciall defence and fafety to encounter, invaders. 

repulfe, repell, and refill:, by force of arms, as well by 

fea as by land, and by all fitting wayes and meanes 

whatloever, all fuch perfon and perfons as fhall at any 

tyme hereafter attempt or enterprife the deftruction, 

invafion, detriment, or annoyance of the faid plantation 

or inhabitants : And to take and furprife by all wayes 

and meanes whatfoever all and every fuch perfon and 

perfons, with their fhipps, armour, munition, and 

other goods, as (hall in hoftile manner invade and 

attempt the defeatinge of the faid plantation, or the 

hurt of the faid companie and inhabitants. Neverthe- 

lefs, our will and pleafure is, and we do hereby declare f or the case 

to all Chrittian Kings, Princes, and States, that, if ^g 

any perfon or perfons which fhall hereafter beofthe b y the 

. j . . members cf 

faid companie or plantation, or any other by lycenfe the said 
or appointment of the faid Governour and Companie agams? 7 

for 



90 

others of for the tyme being, (hall, at any time or times, here- 
subjects, or after, robb or fpoyle by fea or by land, or do any hurt, 
o/anyoSr v ^°^ ence > or unlawful hoftility to any of the subjects 
pnnce or f us our heirs, or fucceflbrs, or any of the subjects 

state. . 

of any Prince or State being then in league and amity 
with us, our heirs, and fucceflbrs, and that upon fuch 
injury done, and upon juft complaint of fuch Prince 
or State, or their fubj eels, wee, our heircs, or fucceflbrs, 
{hall make open proclamation within any of the parts 
within our realme of England commodious for that 
purpofe, that the perfon or perfons having committed 
any fuch robbery or fpoyle, {hall, within the terme 
limited by fuch a proclamation, make full reftitution 
or fatisfa&ion of all fuch injuries done, fo as the faid 
Princes or others fo complaining may hould them- 
felves fully fatisfied and contented. And that if the 
faid perfon or perfons having committed fuch robbery 
or fpoyle {hall not make, or caufe to be made, fatisfac- 
tion accordingly, within fuch tyme fo to be lymitted,that 
then it (hall be lawful for us, our heires, and fucceflbrs, 
to putt the faid perfon or perfons out of our allegiance 
and protection ; and that it {hall be lawful and free for 
all Princes to profecute with hoftility the faid offenders 
and every of them, their, and every of their, procurers, 
ayders, abettors, and comforters, in that behalfe. 
reaving to Provided alfo, and our exprefle will and pleafure is, 
the king's anc [ wee do, by thefe prefents, for us, our heires and 

other sub- . . 

jects the fucceflbrs, ordaine and appoint, that thefe prefents fhall 
iif^on. the not m an y manner enure, or be taken, to abridge, barre, 
coast of the r n j nc j er any f our loving fubjee/ts whatfoever to ufe 

premissss J o j 

hereby and exercife the trade of fiming upon the coafls of 
New-England in America by thefe prefents mentioned 
to be granted : But that they, and every or any 
of them, (hall have full and free power and liberty to 

continue 



91 

jontinue and ufe their faid trade of fiming upon the 
laid coaft in any of the feas thereunto adjoineing, or 
any armes of the feas or falt-water rivers where they 
have beene wont to fifh, and to build and fet-up upon 
the lands by thefe prefents granted fuch wharfes, ftages, 
and workhoufes as mall be necefTary for the faking, 
drying, keeping, and packing-up of their fifh to 
be taken or gotten upon that coaft; and to cut- 
downe and take fuch trees and other materialls there 
growing, or being, as fhall be needful for that pur- 
pofe, and for all other necefTary eafements, helpes, and 
advantages, concerning their faid trade of fifhing there, 
in fuch manner and forme as they have been hereto- 
fore at any tyme accuftomed to doe, without makeing 
any wilful wafte or fpoyle, any thing in thefe prefents 
contained to the contrary notwithftanding. 

And we do further, for us, our heires, and fucceflors, These let- 
ordaineand grant the faid Governour and Companie, ^1^°* 
and their fucceflors, by thefe prefents, that thefe our let- s ood inlaw, 

J r and shall be 

ters patents fhall be flrme, good, effectual, and availa- construed in 
ble in all things, and to all intents and conftrucl.ions t h e compa- 
of lawe, according to our true meaning herein before n X> , not " 
declared, and fhall be conftrued, reputed, and adjudged ing any 
in all cafes moft favourably on the behalfe and for the or imperfec- 
benefit and behoofe of the faid Governour and Com- ^"nVor 
panie and their fucceflors ; although exprefle mention an y for mer 

'. , , • r statute, or 

of the true yearly value, or certainty, of the premifles. other acts 
or any of them, or of any other gifts or grants, by us ^thVcon?' 
or any other of our progenitors or predeceflbrs, to the trary * 
*orefaid Governour and Companie before this time 
made, in thefe prefents is not made 5 or any ftatute, 
a£t, ordinance, provifion, proclamation, or reftraint to 
the contrary thereof heretofore had, made, publiflied^ 
ordained or provided, or any other matter, caufe, or 

thing 



92 



thing whatsoever to the contrarie thereof in any wile 
notwithftanding. In witnefs whereof we have caufed 
thefe our letters to be made patent. Witnefs ourfelves 
at Weftminfter, the fourth Day of March in the fourth 
yeare of our reigne. 



This is a true copy of fuch letters 
patents under the great feal of 
England. In teftimony whereof, 
I, John Winthrop, Governour 
of the Mattachufetts aforefaid, 
have caufed the publick feal of 
the fame to be hereunto affixed 
this lgth day of the month 
called March, 1643-4. 




JOHN WINTHROP, Governour, 



42* 



THE 

SECOND ROYAL CHARTER 

OP THE 

COLONY OF THE MASSACHUSETTS BAY 

IN NORTH AMERICA, 

granted ey 

KING WILLIAM AND QUEEN MARY, 

IN THE THIRD YEAR OF THEIR REIGN. 



SEPTIMA PARS PATENTIUM, DE ANNO REGNI REGIS Gl'LIELML 
TERT1I ET MARLfc R.EGINJE TERTIO. 



W illiam and Mary, by the Grace of God, &c, R ecita j f 

to all to whom thefe preients fhall come, greeting, j 1 grant of 

Whereashislatemajefty KingJamesthe Firft, our royal North- 

predecefTor, by his letters patents under the great feal mac ] e by 

of England, bearing date at Weftminfter on the third ^kSS 

day of November in the eighteenth year of his reign, did the Coun- 
J . . . cil of Ply- 

give and grant unto the Council eftablifhed at Plymouth mouth in 

in the county of Devon, for the planting, ruling, order- y ^ r 8 f 
ing, and governing of New-England in America, and h,s re, s n - 
to their fucceflbrs and afligns, all that part of America 
lying and being, in breadth, from forty degrees of 
northerly latitude from the equinoctial line, to the forty- 
eighth degree of the faid northerly latitude inclufively, 
and, in length, of and within all the breadth aforefaid, 
throughout all the main lands from fea to fea; together 
with all the firm lands, Toils, grounds, havens, ports, 
rivers, waters^ filTiings, mines and minerals, as well 
royal mines of gold and filver, as other mines and 
minerals, precious ftones, quarries, and all and lingular 
other commodities, jurifdicYions, royalties, privileges, 

franchifes, 



94 



frarichifes, and pre-eminences, both within the faid tract 
of land upon the main, and alfo within the iflancls 
and Teas adjoining; provided always, that the faid 
lands, iflands, or any the premifes by the faid letters 
patents intended and meant to be granted, were not 
then actually poffeffed or inhabited by any other Chrif- 
tian prince or (late, or within the bounds, limits, or 
territories of the fouthern colony then before granted 
by the faid late King James the Fir ft, to be planted by 
divers of his fubjects in the fouth parts: to have and 
to hold, poffefs and enjoy all and lingular the forefaid 
continent, lands, territories, iflands, hereditaments and 
precincts, feas, waters, fifhings, with all, and all man- 
ner of, their commodities, royalties, liberties, pre- 
eminences and profits that mould from thenceforth arife 
from thence, with all and fingular their appurtenances, 
and every part and parcel thereof, unto the faid Coun- 
cil, and their fucceffors and affigns, for ever, to the 
fole and proper ufe and benefit of the faid Council, and 
their fucceffors and afligns for ever : to be holden of 
his faid late Majefty King James the First, his heirs and 
fucceffors, as of his manor of Eaft- Greenwich in the 
county of Kent, in free and common foccage, and not 
in capite, nor by knights' fervice : yielding and paying 
therefore to the faid late king, his heirs and fucceffors, 
the fifth part of the ore of gold and filver, which fhould, 
from time to time, and at all times then after, happen 
to be found, gotten, had and obtained, in, at, or with- 
in, any of the faid lands, limits, territories or precincts, 
or in, or within, any part or parcel thereof, for, or in 
refpect of, all and all manner of duties, demands, and 
fervices whatfoever, to be done, made, or paid to the 
faid late King James the Firft, his heirs and fucceffors ; 
as in, and by, the faid letters patents, amongft fundry 

other 



• 95 

other claufes, powers, privileges, and grants, therein 
contained, more at large appeareth. 

And whereas the laid Council eftabliflied at Ply-TheCoun- 

J cu at Ply- 

mouth, in the county of Devon, for the planting, rul- mouth gran- 
ing. ordering, and governing of New-England in Amc- chusets bay 
rica, did, by their deed indented under their common ^l^eu" 7 
feal, bearing date the nineteenth day of March in the and others, 

. . in fee sim- 

third year of the reign of our royal grandfather king pie; ins 
Charles the Firft, of evcr-bleffed memory, give, grant, 
bargain, fell, enfeoff, alien, and confirm to Sir Henry 
Kofewell, Sir John Young, knights, ThomasSouthcott, 
John Humphreys, John Endicott, and Simon Whet- 
combe, their heirs, and affigns, and their affbciates 
for ever, all that part of New-England in America 
aforefaid, which lies and extends between a great river 
there commonly called Monomack alias Merrimack, 
and a certain other river there called Charles river, 
being a bottom of a certain bay there commonly called 
MafTachufets, alias Mattachufets, alias Maffatufets,bay ; 
and alfo all and lingular thofe lands and hereditaments 
whatfoever, lying within the fpace of three Englifh 
miles on the fouth part of the faid Charles river, or 
of any and every part thereof; and alfo all and fmgular 
the lands and hereditaments whatfoever, lying and 
being within the fpace of three Englifh miles to the 
fouthward of the fouthernmoft part of the faid bay 
called the MafTachufets, alias Mattathufets, alias MaflTa- 
tufets, bay \ and alfo all thofe lands and hereditaments 
whatfoever which lie and be within the fpace of three 
Englifh miles to the northward of the faid river called 
Monomack, alias Merrimack, or to the northward of 
any and every part thereof -, and all lands and here- 
ditaments whatfoever, lying within the limits afore- 
said, north and fouth in latitude and in breadth, and in 

length 



96 

length and longitude, of and within all the breadth 
aforefaid, throughout the main lands there from the 
Atlantick and weftern fea and ocean on the eaft part, 
to the fouth fea on the well part; and all lands and 
grounds, place and places, foil, woods and wood- 
grounds, havens, ports, rivers, waters, nfhings and 
hereditaments, whatsoever, lying within the faid 
bounds and limits, and every part and parcel thereof; 
and alfo all iflands lying in America aforefaid, in the 
faid feas, or either of them, on the weftern or eaftern 
coafts or parts of the faid tracts of land by the faid 
indenture mentioned to be given and granted, bargain- 
ed, fold, enfeoffed, aliened and confirmed, or any of 
them; and alfo all mines and minerals, as well royal 
mines of gold and fllver, as other mines and minerals 
whatfoever, in the faid lands and premiffes, or any 
part thereof; and all jurifdi&ions, rights, royalties, 
liberties, freedoms, immunities, privileges, franchifes', 
pre-eminences, and commodities whatfoever, which 
they the faid Council eftablifhed at Plymouth, in the 
county of Devon, for the planting, ruling, ordering, 
and governing of New-England in America, then had 
or might ufe, exercife or enjoy, in or within the faid 
land and premifes, by the fame indenture mentioned 
to be given, granted, bargained, fold, enfeoffed, and 
Habendum; confirmed in, or within, any part or parcel thereof; to 
have and to hold the faid part of New-England in 
America, which lies and extends, and is abutted as 
aforefaid, and every part and parcel thereof, and all 
the faid iflands, rivers, ports, havens, waters, fimings, 
mines, minerals, jurisdictions, franchifes, royalties, 
liberties, privileges, commodities, hereditaments and 
premifes whatfoever, with the appurtenances, unto the 
faid Sir Henry Rofewell., Sir John Young, Thomas 

Southcott, 



97 

Southcott, John Humphreys, John Endicott, and 
Simon Whetcombe, their heirs and affigns, and their 
afTociates for ever, to the only proper and abfolute ufe 
and behoof of the faid Sir Henry Rofwell, Sir John 
Young, Thomas Southcott, John Humphreys, John 
Endicott, and Simon Whetcombe, their heirs and 
affigns, and their affociates for evermore; to be holden Tenendum. 
of our faid royal Grandfather king Charles the Firft, 
his heirs and fucceflbrs, as of his manor of Eaft Green- 
wich in the county of Kent, in free and common 
foccage, and not in capite, nor by knights fervice; R , den 
yielding and paying therefore unto our faid royal dum. 
Grandfather, his heirs and fucceflors, the fifth part of 
the ore of gold and filver, which fhould, from time to 
time, and at all times hereafter, happen to be found, 
gotten, had and obtained in any of the faid lands 
within the faid limits, or in or within any part thereof, 
for and in fatisfaclion of all manner of duties, demands 
and fervices whatfoever to be done, made or paid to 
our faid royal Grandfather, his heirs or fucceflbrs, (as 
in and by the faid recited indenture may more at large 
appear). 

And whereas our faid royal Grandfather, in and by The k - 
his letters patents under the great Seal of England, confirmed 
bearing date at Weftminfter the fourth day of March byiettcis- 
in the fourth year of his reign, for the confi deration ^ car I; 
therein mentioned, did grant and confirm unto the 
faid Sir Henry Rofwell, Sir John Young, Tho. South- 
cott, John Humphreys, John Endicott, and Simon 
Whetcombe, and to their affociates after named ; viz. 
Sir Ralph Saltenftall, knight, Ifaac Johnfon, Samuel 
Alderfey, John Ven, Matthew Craddock, George 
Harwood, Increafe Nowell, Richard Perry, Richard 
Bellingham, Nathaniel Wright, Samuel VafTal, The- 
H ophilns. 



98 

ophilus "Eaton, Thomas Golfe, Thomas Adams, John 
Brown, Samuel Brown, Thomas Hutchins, William 
Vaflal, William Pincheon, and George Foxcroft, their 
heirs and aMigns, all the faid part of New-England in 
America, lying and extending between the bounds 
and limits in the faid indenture expreffed, and all 
lands and grounds, place and places, foils, woods and 
wood^grounds, havens, ports, rivers, waters, mines, 
minerals, jurisdictions, rights, royalties, liberties, free- 
doms, immunities, privileges, franchifes, pre-eminen- 
ces, and hereditaments whatsoever, bargained, fold, 
enfeoffed and confirmed, or mentioned or intended to 
be given, granted, bargained, fold, enfeoffed, aliened 
and confirmed, to them the faid Sir Henry Rofwell, 
Sir John Young, Thomas Southcott, John Humphrey, 
John Endicott, and Simon Whetcombe, their heirs 
andafligns, and to their affociates for ever, by the faid 

Habendum, recited indenture; to have and to hold the faid part of 
New-England in America; and other the premifes 
thereby mentioned to be granted and confirmed, and 
every part and parcel thereof, with the appurtenances, 
to the faid Sir Henry Rofwell, Sir John Young, Sir 
Richard Saltenftall, Thomas Southcott, John Hum- 
phrey, John Endicott, Simon Whetcombe, Ifaac 
Johnfon, Samuel Alderfey, John Ven, Matthew Crad- 
dock, George Harwood, Increafe Nowell, Richard Per- 
ry, Richard Bellingham, Nathaniel Wright, Samuel 
Vaffall, Theophilus Eaton, Thomas Golfe, Thomas 
Adams, John Brown, Samuel Brown, Thomas Hutch- 
ins, William Vaffall, William Pincheon and George 
Foxcroft, their heirs and afiigns for ever, to their only 
proper and abfolute ufe and behoof for evermore; to 

Tcncndum.be holden of our faid royal Grandfather, his heirs and 
fucceffors, as of his manor of Eaft Greenwich afore- 

faid 3 



93 

faid, in free and common foccage, and not hi capiie, 
nor in knights fervice; and alio yielding and paying 
therefore to onr faid royal Grandfather, his heirs and Redden- 

J dam. 

fuceeffbrs, the fifth part only of all the ore of gold and 
filver, which from time to time, and at all times after, 
fhould be there gotten, had or obtained, for all fer- 
vices, exactions and demands whatfoever, according 
to the tenor and refervation in the; faid recited inden 
ture expreffed. 

And further our faid roval Grandfather, by the faid And grant- 

* • ed the same 

letters patents, did pive and grant unto the faid Sir lands over 

a^am to the 

Henry Rofwell, Sir John Young, Sir Richard Salten- new grm- 
ftall, Thomas Southcott, John Humphreys, John a ^ s ^ nees 
Endicott, Simon Whetcombe, Ifaac Johnfon, Samuel £ ir Hen T 

7 ' * Roswell 

Alderfey, John Ven, Matthew Craddock, George Har- and others. 
wood, Increafe Noweli, Richard Perry, Richard Bel^ 
Jingham, Nathaniel Wright, Samuel Vaflall, Theophi- 
Jus Eaton, Thomas Golfe, Thomas Adams; John 
Brown, Samuel Brown, Thomas Hutchins, William 
Vaflall, William Pincheon and George Foxcroft, their 
heirs and affigns, all that part of New-England h\ 
America which lies and extends between a great river 
there, commonly called Monomack, alias Merrimack, 
river, and a certain other river there, called Charles 
river being in the bottom of a certain bay there, com- 
monly called Maffachufetts, alias Mattachufetts, 
alias Mafiatufetts, Bay, as alfo all and lingular thofe 
lands and hereditaments whatfoever, lying within the 
fpace of three Englifli miles on the South part of the 
faid River called Charles River, or of any or every part 
thereof; and alfoall and lingular thofe lands and heredita- 
ments whatfoever, lying and being within the fpace of 
three Englifh miles to theSouthward of theSouthermolt. 
part of the faid bay, called Mafia chufet Is, aliasMattachu- 

H 2, fctS, 



100 

fets, alias MafTatufetts, Bay ; and alfo all thofe lands and 
hereditaments whatfoever, which lie and be within the 
fpace of three English miles to the northward of the faid 
river, called Monomack, alias Merrimack, or to the 
Northward of any and every part thereof, and all lands 
and hereditaments whatfoever, lying within the limits 
aforefaid, North and South in latitude and in breadth, 
and in length and longitude, of and within all the 
breadth aforefaid, throughout the main lands there, 
from the Atlantick, or Weftern, fea and ocean, on the 
Eaft part, to the South-Sea on the Weft part; and all 
lands and grounds, place and places, foils, woods and 
wood-lands, havens, ports, rivers, waters and heredi- 
taments whatfoever, lying within the faid bounds and 
limits, and every part and parcel thereof; and alfo all 
iflands in America. aforefaid, in the faid feas, or either 
of them, or the Weftern or Eaftern coafts, or parts of 
the faid tracls of lands thereby mentioned to be given 
and granted, or any of them ; and all mines and mi- 
nerals, as well royal mines of gold and filver, as other 
mines and minerals whatfoever, in the faid lands and 
premifes, or any part thereof ; and free liberty of fifhing 
in, or within, any of the rivers or waters within the 
bounds and limits aforefaid, and the feas thereunto ad- 
joining; and all fifties, royal fifties, whales, balene, 
fturgeons, and other fifties of what kind or nature fo- 
ever, that ftjould at any time hereafter be taken in, or 
within, the faid feas or waters, or any of them, by the 
faid Sir Henry Rofevvell, Sir John Young, Sir Richard 
Saltenftall, Thomas Southcott, John Humphreys, John 
Endicott, Simond Whetcombe, Ifaac Johnson, Sa- 
muel Alderfey, John Ven, Matthew Craddock, George 
Harwood, Increafe Nowell, Richard Bellingham, 
Thomas Wright, Samueli Vaffalb Theophilus Eaton, 

Thomas 



101 

Thomas Golfe, Thomas Adams, John Brown, Samuel 
Browne, Tho. Hutchins, William Vaffall, William 
Pincheon, and George Foxcroft, their Heirs or Afligns, 
or by any other perfon or perfons whatfoever there in- 
habiting, by them, or any of them, to be appointed to 
fifti therein. Provided always, that if the faid lands, 
iflands, or any of the premifes before- mentioned, and 
by the faid letters patents laft-mentioned, intended 
and meant to be granted, were, at the time of the 
granting the faid former letters patents, dated the third 
day of November, in the eighteenth year of the reign 
of his late Majefty King James the Firft, actually pof- 
fefled or inhabited by any other Chriftian Prince or 
State, or were within the bounds, limits or territories 
of the faid Southern Colony then before granted by 
the King, to be planted by divers of his loving fubjec*ls 
in the South parts of America, that then the faid grant 
of Our faid Royal Grandfather fhould not extend to 
any fuch parts or parcels thereof, fo formerly inhabited 
or lying within the bounds of the Southern Plantation 
as aforefaid ; but as to thofe parts or parcels fo poflTef- 
fed or inhabited by any fuch Chriftian Prince or State, 
or being within the boundaries aforefaid, fhould be (iu a ra 
utterly void ; to have, hold, poffefs, and enjoy, the laid 
parts of New-England in America, which lie, extend, 
and are abutted as aforefaid, and every part and parcel- 
thereof, and all the iflands, rivers, ports, havens, 
waters, fifhings, fiflies, mines, minerals, jurifdi&ions, 
franchifes, royalties, liberties, privileges, commodities, 
and premifes whatfoever, with the appurtenances, unto 
the faid Sir Henry Rofwell, Sir John Young, Sir 
Richard Saltenftall, Thomas Southcott, John Hum- 
phreys, John Endicott, Simond Whetcombe, Ifaac 
Johnfon, Samuel Alderfey, John Ven, Matthew Crad- 
dock, George Harwood, Increafe Nowell, Richard Per- 
h 3 ry, 



102 

Vy, Richara^Bellingham, Nathaniel Wright, Samuel 
Vaffali, Theonhllus Eaton, Thomas Golfe, Thomas 
Adams, John Brown, Samuel Browne, Thomas 
Hutchins, William Vaflal, William P'mehcon, and 
George Foxcroft, their Heirs and Afiigns for ever, to 
the only proper and abfolute ufe and behoof of the faid 
Sir Henry Rofwell, Sir John Young, Sir Richard Sal- 
tenftall, Thomas Southcott, John Humphreys, John 
Endieott, Symond Whetcombe, Isaac Johnfon, Samuel 
Alderfey, John Ven, Matthew Craddock, George 
Harwood, Tncreafe Nowell, Richard Perry, Richard 
Bellingham, Nathaniel Wright, Samuell Vaflall,Theo- 
philus Eaton, Thomas Golfe, Thomas Adams, John 
Brown, Samuel Browne, Thomas Hutchins, William 
VaiTall, William Pincheon, and George Foxcroft, 
tenendum, their Heirs and Affigns for evermore ; to be holden of 
our faid Royal Grandfather, his Heirs and SucceiTors, 
as of his manor of Eaft-Greenwich in the county of 
Ken^ within the realme of England, in free and com- 
mon foccage, and not in capite, nor by Knights fer- 
Reddcn- vice; and alfo yielding and paying thereof to Our faid 
dam. Royal Grandfather, his Heirs and Suceefibrs, the fifth 

part only of all the ore of gold and filver, which from time' 
to time, and at all times hereafter, mould be gotten, 
had or obtained, for ail fervices, exactions and demands 
whatsoever : Provided always, and his Majefty's exprefs 
will and meaning was, that only that one fifth part of 
all the gold and filver ore abovementioned in the whole 
and no more, mould be anfwered, referved or payable 
unto our faid Royal Grandfather, his Heirs and Suc- 
eefibrs, by colour or virtue of the faid lad-mentioned 
. letters patents, the double refervations or recitals afore- 
faid, or any thing therein contained notwithstanding. 
AncUo the end that the affairs and bnfinefs, which 

from 



103 

from time to time mould happen and arife, concerning Ificorpom- 

r ■ l_ tion ° f th£ 

the lands and plantations of the fame, might be the grantees, 

better managed and ordered, and for the good govern- R o Sew e e "{ y 

ment thereof, Our faid Royal Grandfather, Kins: * c *. and 

*- m > => t ^ cir suc . 

Charles the Firft, did, by his faid letters patent, create cesgors, by 
and make the faid Sir Henry Rofwell, Sir John (l f the Go- 
Young, Sir Richard Saltenftall, Thomas Southcott, ^ r d n ^ 
John Humphreys, John Endicott, Symond Whet- pany, of 

1 - ' ' ' the Massa- 

combe, Ifaac John Ton, Samuel Alderfey, John Ven, chusews 
Matthew Craddock, George Harwood, Increafe Now- England.^ 
-ell, Richard Perry, Richard Bellingham, Nathaniel 
Wright, Samuel Vaflall, and Theophilus Eaton, Tho- 
mas Golfe, Thomas Adams, John Browne, Samuel 
Browne, Thomas Hutchins, William Vaflall, Wil- 
liam Pincheon and George Foxcroft, and all fuch others 
as mould thereafter be admitted and made free of the 
company and Society therein after-mentioned, one 
body corporate and politick in fact and name, by the 
name of the Governour and Company of the Maflachu- 
fetts Bay in New-England 5 and did grant unto them, 
and their Succeflbrs, divers powers, liberties, and privi- 
leges, as in and by the faid. letters patents may more 
fully and at large appear. 

And whereas the faid Governour and Company cf 
the Maflachufetts Bay in New England, by virtue 
of the faid letters patents, did fettle a Colony of the 
Englifli in the faid parts of America, and divers good 
fubjecls of this kingdom, encouraged and invited by 
the faid letters patents, did tranfport themfelves and 
their effects into the fame, whereby the faid plantation 
did become very populous ; and divers counties, towns, 
and places were created, erected, named, fet forth, or 
defigued, within the faid parts of America, by the faid 
Governour and Company for the time being. 

H4 And 



104 

the repeal And whereas in the term of the Holy Trinity, in the 

of the for- . J J . 

merchar- thirty-fixth year of the reign of Our deareft uncle King 
Cor. 2. Charles the Second, a judgment was given in Our 
Court of Chancery, then fitting at Weftminner, upon 
a writ of Scire Facias, brought and profecuted in the 
faid Court, again ft the Governour and Company of 
the Maflachufetts Bay in New England ; and* that the 
faid letters patents of Our faid Royal Grandfather King 
Charles the Firft, bearing date at Weftminfter the fourth 
day of March, in the fourth year of his reign, made 
and granted to the faid Governour and company of the 
Maflachufetts Bay in New England, and the enroll- 
ment of thefamefhonldbe cancelled, vacated, andannihi- 
lated, and mould be brought into the faid Court to be 
cancelled (as in and by the faid judgment remaining 
upon record in the faid Court doth more at large ap- 

Th t" PCar '' 

on ofthe*" -^ R( ^ wnereas feveral perfons employed as Agents in 

inhab;tanis behalf of Our faid Colonv of the Maflachufetts Bav in 

of M. ssa- - . . . 

cbusets bay, New-England have made their humble application un- 

to Icin? - 

William to Us, that We would be gracioufly pleafed by our 
Charter™" Royal Charter, to incorporate Our fubjeclsin Our faid 
Colony, and to grant and confirm unto them fuch pow- 
ers, privileges and franchifes, as in Our Royal wifdom 
fliould be thought mod conducing to Our intereft and 
fervice, and to the welfare and happy ftate of Our fub- 
jects in New-England, and we being gracioufly pleafed to 
gratify our faid fubjecl:s,and alfo to the end that Our good 
fubjects within Our Colony of New-Plymouth in New- 
England aforefaid, may be brought underfuch a form of 
Government asmayput them in a bettercondition of de- 
fence; and confidering that the granting, as well unto 
them as unto Our fubjecls inthefaid Colony of the Mafla- 
chufetts Bay, Our Royal Charter, with reafonable powers 
and privileges, will much tend, not only to the fafety 

but 



105 

hut to the flouri flung eftate of Our fubje£ls in the faid 
parts of New-En gland ; and alfo to the advancing the 
ends for which the faid plantations were at firft en- 
couraged ; of Our efpecia! grace, certain knowledge* The neW 
and mere motion, have willed and ordained, and We grant. 
do by thefe prefents for us, our Heirs and SuccefFors, 
will and ordain, that the Territories and colonies, com- The new . 
monly called or known by the names of the Colony of bouHdarife s 

3 3 • of the Colo- 

the Maflachufetts-Bay, and Colony of New-Plymouth, ny, or Pro- 
the Province of Main, the Territory called Accadia, t h e Massa- 
or Nova-Scotia, and all that tract of land lying between £ husets 

y / o bay, in 

the faid Territories of Nova-Scotia, and the faid pro- New-Eng- 
land. 
vince of Main, be united, erected, and incorporated ; 

and we do by thefe prefents unite, erect, and in- 
corporate the fame into one real Province, by 
the name of our Province of the MaJJachufetts 
R'iy in New-England*, and of our fpecial grace, 
certain knowledge, and mere motion, we have given 
and granted, and, by thefe prefents, for us, our Heirs 
and fucceflbrs, do give and grant unto our faid fubjects, 
the inhabitants of Our faid Province, or Territory, of 
the Maffachufetts Bay, and their Succeflbrs, all that 
part of New-England in America, lying and extend- 
ing from the great river commonly called Monomack, 
alias Merrimack, and the North part, and from three 
miles northward of the faid river, to the Atlantic, or 
weftern, fea, or ocean, on the fouth part ; and all the 
lands and hereditaments whatfoever lying within the 
limits aforefaid, and extending as far as the uttermoft 
points or promontories of land called Cape Cod and Cape 
Malabar north and fouth, and inlatitudeandbreadth,and 
in length and longitude, of and within all the breadth 
and compafs aforefaid, throughout the main land 
there, from the faid Atlantic, or Weftern, Sea and 
ocean on the eaft part, towards the South Sea Or Weft- 
ward, 



108 

ward as far as onr colonies of Rhode Ifland, Conflec* 
ticnt, and theNarrowganfet country; and alfo that part 
and portion of Main land beginning at the entrance of 
Pifcataway harbour, and fo patiing up the fame into the 
river of Newickewannocke, and through the fame into 
the furtheft head thereof, and from thence North-well- 
ward till one hundred and twenty miles be finished, . 
and from Pifcataway harbour mouth aforefaid, North- 
eaftward along the sea-coaft to Sagadehock, and from 
the period of .one hundred and twenty miles aforefaid, 
to crofs over land to the one hundred and twenty-miles 
btfore reckoned-up into the lands from Pifcataway 
harbour through Newickannocke river; and alfo the 
North half of the Ifles of Shoals, together with the 
Ides of Chappawock and Nantuckett, near Cape Cod 
aforefaid ; and alfo the lands and hereditaments lying 
and being in the Country or Territory commonly called 
Accadia or Nova-Scotia ; and all thofe lands and 
hereditaments lying and extending between the faid 
Country or Territory of Nova-Scotia and the faid river 
of Sagadahock, or any part thereof; and all lands, 
grounds, places, foils, woods and wood-grounds, 
havens, ports, rivers, waters, and other hereditaments 
and premifes whatfoever, lving within the faid bounds 
and limits aforefaid, and every part and parcel thereof; 
and alfo all Iflands and Iflets lying within ten leagues 
directly oppofite to the main land within the faid 
bounds, and all Mines and Mineralls, as well Royal 
Mines of gold and filver, as other Mines and Minerals 
whatfoever, in the faid lands and premifes, or any part 
Habendum. thereof . to have and t0 ho|d the f aid Territories, tracts, 

countries, lands, hereditaments, and all and Angular 
other the premifes, with their and every of their appur- 
tenances, to our faid fubjects, the inhabitants of our 

faid 



107 

faid province of theMaflachufetts Bay in New-England* 
and their fucceffbrs, to their only proper ufe and be- 
hoof for evermore 5 to be holden of us, our heirs and 
fucceflfors, as of our manor of Eaft Greenwich in the enen um * 
County of Kent, by fealty only, in free and common 
foccage, yielding and paying therefore yearly, to us, our 
heirs and succeiTors, the fifth part of all gold and filver 
ore and precious ftones, which (hall from time to time, 
and at all times hereafter, happen to be found, gotten, 
had and obtained, in any of the faid lands and pre- Provide in 

7 J * favour of 

mifes, or within any part thereof: Provided neverthe- grants made 
lefs, and we do for us, our heirs and fucceffbrs, grant authority 
and ordain, that all and every fuch lands, tenements, ^cr Chap- 
hereditaments, and other eftates, which anv perfon or terofkiag 

' ' J J Charles tie 

perfons, or bodies politick or corporate, towns, villages, Fust, 
colleges, or fchools, do hold and enjoy, or ought to 
have, hold and enjoy, within the bounds aforefaid, by 
or under any grant or eftate duly made or granted by 
any General Court formerly held, or by virtue of the 
letters patents herein before-recited, or by any other 
lawful right or title whatfoever (hall be by fuch perfon 
and perfons, bodies politick and corporate, towns, vil- 
lages, colleges, or fchools, their refpecYive Heirs, Suc- 
ceffbrs and Affigns, for ever hereafter held and enjoyed 
according to the purport and intent of fuch refpective 
grant, under and fubject neverthelefs to the rents and 
fervices thereby referved or made payable ; any mat- 
ter or thing whatfoever to the contrary notwithstanding. 
And provided alfo, that nothing herein contained (hall 
extend, or be underftood or taken, to impeach or pre- 
judice any right, title, intereft, or demand, which 
Samuel Allen, of London, Merchant, claiming from and 
under John Mafon, Efquire, deceafed, or any other per- 
fon, or perfons, hath, or have, or claimeth or claim, to 

ha\ e, 



108 

have, bold or enjoy, of in to or out of any part or pari£ 
of the prcmifes fituate within the limits above-men- 
tioned ; but that the faid Samuel Allen, and all and 
everv fuch perfon and perfons, may and mail have, hold 
and enjoy the fame, in fuch manner (and no other 
than) as if thefe prefents had not been had or made 5, 
it being our further will and pleafure, that no grants or 
conveyances of any lands, tenements or hereditaments 
to any towns, colleges, fchools of learning, or to any 
private perfon or perfons, mall be judged, or taken, to 
be avoided, or prejudiced, for, or by reafon of,any want, 
or defect, of form, but that the fame ft and and remain 
of force, and be maintained, adjudged, and have effect 
in fuch manner as the fame mould, or ought, before the 
time of the faid recited judgement, according to the laws 
and rules then and there ufually praHifed and allowed. 
A Gover- And we do further, for us, our heirs and fuccefibrs, 
nour, Lieu. jjj. e f ta b]jft, anc | ordain, that from henceforth for ever 

tenant- Cro- > ■» * 

vernour : and there fhall bcone Governour, one Lieutenant, orDeputy, 

Secretary of . . 

theProvince Governour, and one Secretary, of our faid Province or 

pointeTby Territory, to be from time to time appointed and com- 

the king, miffionated by us, our heirs and fuccerTors, and' eight- 

and-twenty-Affiftants or Councillors, to be advifing 

and arTifting to the Governour of our faid Province or 

Territory for the time being, as by thefe prefents is 

hereafter directed and appointed, which faid Conucil 

and Affiflants are to be conftituted, elected and chofen, 

in fuch form and manner as hereafter in thefe prefents 

is expreffed. 

Twenty- And for the better execution of our royal pleafure 

seilois. " an( ^ grant in this behalf, We do, by thefe prefents, for 

us, our Heirs and SucceiTors, nominate, ordain, make 

and conftitute, our trufty and well beloved Simon 

Broadftreet, John Richards^ Nathaniel Saltenftall, Wait 

Winthrop, 



109 

Winthrop, John Philips, James Ruffe]], Samuel Sewall, 
Samuel Apleton, Bartholomew Gedney, John Haw- 
thorne, Elilha Hutchins, Robert Pike, Jonathan Cur- 
win, John Jolliffe, Adam Winthrop, Richard Middle- 
cot, John Fofter, Peter Serjeant, Jofeph Lynd, Samuel 
Heyman, Stephen Mafon, Thomas Hinkely, William 
Bradford, John Walley, Barnabas Lowthrop, Job Al- 
cot, Samuel Daniel, and Silvanus Davies, Efquires, the 
firft and prefent Counfeilors or Affiftants of ourfaid 
Province, to continue in their faid refpeclive offices or 
trufts of Counfeilors or Affiftants until the laft Wed- 
nesday in May, which (hall be in the year of our Lord 
One thoufand Six hundred Ninety-three, and until 
other Counfeilors or Affiftants (hall be chofen and ap- 
pointed in their ftead, in fuch manner as in thefe pre- 
fents is expreffed. 

And We do further, by thefe prefents, conftitute and 
appoint our trufty and well-beloved Ifaac Addington, 
Efquire, to be our firft and prefent Secretary of our faid 
province during our pleafure. 

And our will and pleafure is, that the Governour of The Govern 
our faid province, for the time being, (hall have autho- pewertoas- 
rity from time to time, at his difcretion, to affemble sembic the 

] 7 ' Council at 

and call-together the Counfeilors, or Affiftants, of our his discre- 
faid province, for the time being; and that the faid Go- s 
vernour, with the faid Affiftants, or Counfeilors, or fe- Counsel- 

r . i n n n i r ■ • lors at least, 

ven of them at leait, ihall and may, from time to time, must be 
hold and keep a Council for the ordering and directing evSy^meet. 
the affairs of our faid province. in s of the 

Council. 

And further, we will, and, by thefe prefents, for Us, a General 
Our heirs and fucceffors, do ordain and grant, that V ourf \°, r 

s= », Assembly, 

there fhall and may be convened, held, and kcot, by the t0 bc neld 

_ r . . , . . every year. 

Governour tor the time being, upon every laft Wednes- 
day in the month of May every year for ever, and at all 

fuch 



no 

fuch other times as the Governor of our faid province 

mall think fit and appoint, a Great and General Court 

Deputies or Afleinblv ; which faid Great and General Court, or 
to this As- 
sembly to AfTemblv, (hall confift of the Governour and Council, or 

by the free- Affiftanis, for the time being, and of fuch freeholders 
holders of of our faid province, or territory, as fhall be from time 
vince. to time elected, or deputed, by the major part of the 

freeholders, and other inhabitants of the refpective 
towns and places, who (hall be prefent at fuch elections; 
each of the faid towns and places being hereby impow- 
ered to elect and depute two perfons, and no more, to 
ferve for and reprcfent them refpeclively in the faid 
Great aud General Court or Aflembly, to which Great 
and General Court or AiTembly, to be held as afore- 
fiid, We do heredy for Us, Our heirs and fucccflbrs, 
give and grant full power and authority, from time to 
time, 10 direct, appoint and declare, what nnmberof each 
county, town, and place, (hall elect and depute to ferve 
Gualiftca- for and reprefent them refpecYively in the faid Great 
electors. afi d General Court or AiTembly, provided always, that 
no freeholder, or other perfon, mall have a vote in the 
ekelion of Members to ferve in any Great and General 
Court or AfTernbly, to be held as aforefaid, who, at the 
time of fuch election, fhall not have an eftate of free- 
hold m land, within our faid province or territory, of 
Oaths to be the value of forty fiiillings per annum at leaft, or other 
pe k rsom ylhCeilate t0 the value of fifty pounds fterling; and that 
elected. every perfon who fhall be fo elected, mall, before he fit 
or act in the faid Great and General Court or AiTembly, 
take the 03th mentioned in the act of parliament 
made in the firft year of Our reign, intituled, tf An act 
for the abrogating of the Oaths of Allegiance and Su- 
premacy, and appointing other Oaths,'* and thereby 
appointed to be taken inftead of the Oaths of Allegi- 
ance 



Ill 

ance and Supremacy, and {ball make, repeat and fub- 
fcribe, the declaration mentioned in the faid act, before 
the Governor, or Lieutenant or Deputy- Governor, or The Cover- 

, nor may 

any two of the affiftants, for the time being, who fhali adjoum, 
be thereunto autborifed and appointed by our faid Go- or°d? § sohre 
vernor; and that the Governor, for the time bein£ 3 * he A ^em- 

7 ... b hes at his 

fhall have full power and authority from time lo time, pleasure, 
as he fhall judge necefTary, to adjourn, prorogue and 
diflolve, all Great aud General Courts 01 AfTemblies, 
met or convened as aforefaid. 

And Our will and pleafure is, and We do hereby for The coun- 
us, our heirs and fuccefTors, grant, eftablifh and ordain, to be chosen 
that yearly, once in every year for ever hereafter, the f nn " ally 
aforefaid number of eight and twenty Counsellors or Assembly. 
Affiftants fhall be by theGeneralCourtor AfTembly newly 
chofen; that is to fay, eighteen at leaft of the inhabi- 
tants or proprietors of lands within the territory for- 
merly called the colony of the Maffachufets Bay 
and four at the lead of the inhabitants of, or pro- 
prietors of lands, within the territory formerly called 
New Plymouth, and three at the leaft of the inhabi- 
tants of, or proprietors of lands within the territory for- 
merly called the Province of Main, and one at tne leaft 
of the inhabitants of, or proprietors of lands within, 
the territory lying between the river Sagadahoc and 
Nova-Scotia; and that the faid Counfdiors or Affift- 
ants, or any of them, fhall or may, at any time here- 
after, "be removed and difplaced, from their refpective 
places or truft of Counfellors or Affiftants, by any 
Greater General Court or AfTembly; and that , if any of 
the faid Counfellors or Affiftants fhall happen to die, 
or be removed as aforefaid, before the General day of 
election, that then, and in every fuch cafe, the Great 
and General Court or AfTembly, at their firft fitting, 

may 



112 

may proceed to a new ele&ion of one or more Coun- 
cilors or Affiftants, in the room or place of fuch Coun- 
fellors or Affiftants fo dying or removed. 

The Cover- And We d() f mt fe t j_ m anc J or dain, t h a t it (hall 
nour and © 7 

Council are and may be lawful for the faid Governour, with the 
the judges, advice and confent of the Council or Affiftants, from 
offie'ers 6f * ime to ^ mc ) to nominate and appoint Judges, Coni- 
jusucc, miilionersof Oyer and Terminer, Sheriffs, Provofts-Mar 
fhals, Juftices of the Peace, and other officers to our 
Council and Courts of Juftice belonging: provided al- 
ways that no fuch nomination or appointment of offi- 
cers be made without notice firft: given, or fummons 
iftued out, fevcn days before fuch nomination or ap- 
pointment, unto fuch of the faid Counfellors, or Affift- 
ants, as (hall be at that time refiding within our faid 
province. 

Oaths to be ^ nc * ^ ur w ^ anc ' p leamrc * s > tnat tne Governour, 
taken by the and Lieutenant, or Deputy, Governour, and Counfellors, 

Governour . 

and the or Affiftants, for the time being, and all other officers 

lo be appointed or chofen as aforefaid, (hail, before the 
undertaking of the execution of their offices and places 
refpe&ively, take their feveral and refpeclive oaths for 
the due and faithful performance of their duties in 
their feveral and refpective offices and places; as alfo 
the oaths appointed by the faid act of parliament, 
made in firft year of our reign, to be taken inftead of 
the oaths of allegiance and fupremacy; and (hall make, 
repeat, and fubfcribe, the declaration mentioned in the 
faid act, before fuch perfon or perfons as are by^thefe 
prefents herein after appointed; (that is to fay) the Go- 
vernour of our faid province, or territory, for the time 
being, (hall take the faid oaths, and make, repeat, and 
fubfcribe, the faid declaration, before the Lieutenant, or 
Deputy, Governour, or, in his abfence, before any two 

or 



113 



or -more of the faid perfons hereby nominated and -ap- 
pointed the prefent Connfellors, or Afliftants, of our 
faid province or territory, to whom We do, by thefe 
prefents, give full power and authority to give and ad« 
minitter the fame to our faid Governour accordingly; 
and, after our faid Governour {hall be fworn, and {liall 
have fubfcribed the faid declaration, that then our 
Lieutenant, or Deputy, Governour, for the time being, 
and the Counfellors, or Afliftants, before by thefe pre- 
fents nominated and appointed, {hall take the faid 
oaths, and make, repeat, and fubferibe the faid declara- 
tion beforeourfaid Governour; and that every fuch per- 
fon, or perfons, as mall (at the time of the annual elec- 
tions, or otherwife upon death or removal) be appoint- 
ed to be the new Counfellors or Affiftants, and all other 
Officers to be hereafter chofen from time to time, fhall 
take the oaths, to their refpe&ive offices and places be- 
longing, and alfo the faid oaths appointed by the faid 
act of parliament to be taken inftead of the oaths of alle- 
giance and fupremacy; and {hall make, repeat, and fub- 
/cribe the declaration mentioned in the faid act, before 
the Governour, or Lieutenant-Governour, or any two, or 
more, Counfellors, or Affiftants, or fuch other perfon, or 
perfons, as fhall be appointed thereunto by the Gover- 
nour for the time being, to whom We do therefore, by 
thefe prefents, give full power and authority from time 
to time to give and adminifter the fame refpectively, 
according to our true meaning herein before-declared, 

DO j 

without any commiffion, or further warrant, to be had 
and obtained from us, our heirs, and fuccefTors, in that, 
behalf. 

And our will and pleafure is, and We do hereby re- 
quire and command, that all and every perfon and per- 
fons, hereafter by us, our heirs, and fuccefTors, nomi- 

i nated, 



114 

All future nated and appointed to the refpective offices of Go vernour* 

Governours . * 

and Lieute- or Lieutenant,orDeputy,Governour, and Secretary, of our 
"ours, and" faidprovinceorterritory, (which faidGovernour, or Lieu- 
Secretanes, tenant, or Deputy, Governour, and Secretary, of our faid 

of the pro- * r J ' > J* 

vince, shall province or territory, for the time being, We do here- 
same oaths, by referve full power and authority to us, our heirs, and 
fucceflbrs, to nominate and appoint accordingly,) {hall, 
before he or they be admitted to the execution of their 
offices, take as well the oaths for the due and faithful 
performance cf the faid offices refpe&ively, as alfo the 
oaths appointed by the faid a& of parliament, made in 
the faid firft year of our reign, to be taken inftead of 
the faid oaths of allegiance and fupremacy; and fhall 
alfomake, repeat, and fubfcribe the declaration appoint- 
ed by the faid act, in fuch manner, and before fuch 
perfons, as aforefaid. 
Thechil- And further, our will and pleafure is, and we do 
king's sub- hereby for us, our heirs, and fucceflbrs, grant, eftahlifh, 

^Si b hat an( * orc ^ am » tnat a ^ an< ^ ever y °f the fubje&s of us, 
torn inthe our heirs, and fucceflbrs, which (hall go to, and inha- 
vince shall bit within, our faid province and territory, and every 
same rights °^ tneir children, which (hall happen to be born there, 
andprivi- or on the feas in going thither, or returning from 

leges as if . . . . 

they had thence, fhall have and enjoy all liberties and immuni- 
in England, ties of free and natural fubje&s within any of the do- 
minions of us, our heirs, and fucceflbrs, to all intents, 
conftiu&ions, and purpofes whatfoever, as if they and 
every of them were born within this our realm of 
England. 

And for the greater eafe and encouragement of our 
loving fubje&s inhabiting our faid province, or territory, 
of the Maffachufets-bay, and of fuch as fhall come to 
inhabit there, we do, by thefe prefents, for us, our heirs, 
and fucceflbrs, grant, eftablifh, and ordain, that for ever 

hereafter, 



115 

hereafter, there {hall be a liberty of confcience allowed Liberty cf 

conscience** 

in the worfhip of God to all Chriftians (except papifts) in the wor- 
inhabiting, or which fhall inhabit or be refident, within forauchris- 
our faid province, or territory. And we do hereby Uans . mthc 

1 ' - J province, 

grant and ordain, that the Governour, or Lieutenant, or except Pa- 
Deputy, Governour, of our faid province, or territory, for 
the time being, or either of them, or any two, or more, 
of the Council, or Afliftants, for the timebeing, that fliall 
be thereuntoappointed by the faid Governour, (hall and 
may at all times, and from time to time hereafter, have 
full power and authority to adminifter and give the 
oaths appointed by the faid aft of Parliament, made in 
the firft year of our reign, to be taken inftead of the 
oaths of allegiance and fupremacy, to all and every 
perfon and perfons which are now inhabiting or read- 
ing within our faid province or territory, or which mail 
at any time or times hereafter go or pafs thither. 

And we do, of our further grace, certain knowledge, The Gene . 
and mere motion, grant, eftablifh, and ordain, for us, J"* 1 Assem - 

. y bly may 

our heirs and fucceifors, that the Great and General erect Courts 
Court, or Aflembly,ofourfaid province, or territory, for 
the time being, convened as aforefaid, mall for ever 
have full power and authority to ereft and conftitute 
Judicatories, and Courts of Record, or other Courts, to 
be held in the name of us, our heirs, and fucceffors, for 
the hearing, trying, and determining of all and all 
manner of crimes, offences, pleas, proce(Tes, plaints, 
aftions, matters, caufes, and things whatfoever, arifing 
or happening within our faid province, or territory, or 
between perfons inhabiting or retid ng there, whether 
the fame be criminal or civil, and whether the faid 
crimes be capital or not capital, and whether the faid 
pleas be real, perfonal, or mixt; and for the awarding 
and making-out of execution thereupon: to which 
i % Courts 



H6 



The Gore? 

$our and 
Council 
may grant 
probates of 
wills and 
letters of 
admimistra 
tion. 



Appeals 
from the 
courts of 
justice to 
the king 
in council. 



Conditions 
of such 
appeals. 



Courts and Judicatories, we do hereby, for us, our heirsy 
and fucceflors, give and grant full power and authority, 
from time to time, to adminifter oaths, for the better 
difcovery of truth in any matter in controverfy, or de- 
pending before them. 

And we do, for us, our heirs, and fucceflors, grant, 
eftablifli, and ordain, that the Governour of our faid 
province or territory for the time being, with the 
Council, or Affiftants, may do, execute, or perform all 
' that is necefTary for the probate of wills, and granting 
of adminiftrations, for, touching, or concerning, any 
intereft or eftate, which any perfon or perfons {hall have 
within our faid province, or territory. 

And whereas we judgeit necefTary, that all our fubjeclg 
fhould have liberty to appea] to us, our heirs, and fuc- 
ceflors, in cafes that may dcfcrve the fame, we do, by 
thefe prefents, ordain, that in cafe either party do not; 
reft fatisfied with the judgement or fentence of any 
judicatories or courts within our faid province or terri- 
tory, in any perianal action, wherein the matter in 
difference doth exceed the value of three hundred 
pounds fterling, that then he, or they, may appeal to us, 
our heirs, and fucceflors, in our, or their, privy-council; 
provided that fuch appeal be made within fourteen 
days after the fentence, or judgement, given ; and that, 
before fuch appeal be allowed, fecurity be given by 
the party or parties appealing, in the value of the mat- 
ter in difference, to pay or anfwer the debt or dama- 
ges, for which (he judgement, or fentence, is given, with 
fuch cofls and damages as fhall be awarded by us, our 
heirs, or fucceflors, in cafe the judgement, or fentence, be 
affirmed : and provided alfo, that no execution fhall be 
ftaid, or fufpended, by reafon of fuch appeal unto us, 
cur heirs, and fucceflors, in our or their privy-council, 

fo 



11-7 

fo as the party firing, or taking-out, execution do, in the 
like manner, give fecuril.y to the- value of the matter in 
difference, to make reftitution, in cafe the faid judge- 
ment or fentencc be reverfed or annulled, upon the 
faid appeal. 

And we do further, for us, our heirs, and fucceflbrs, The Gene- 
55 7 J ral Assem-. 

give and grant to the faid Governour, and the Great or bly may 

General Court, or Afiembly, of our faid province, or terri- 
tory, for the time being, full power and authority, 
from time to time, to make, ordain, and eftablifh all 
manner of wholefome and reafonable orders, laws, 
ftatutes, and ordinances, directions and inftruclions, 
either with penalties or without (fo as the fame be under cer- 

. r . . tain restrict 

not repugnant or contrary to the laws or this our realm tioos- 
of England) as they (hall judge to be for the good and 
welfare of our faid province or territory, and for the 
government and ordering thereof, and of the people 
inhabiting, or who (hall inhabit, the fame, and fort 
neceffary fupport and defence of the government 
thereof. 

And we do for us, our heirs, and fncceflbrs, give It has likc< . 
and o-rant, that the faid General Court, or AlTernbly,{hall wise the 

' J _ power or 

have full power and authority to name and fettle, electing 
annually, all civil officers within the faid province, civil offi- 
fuch officers excepted, the election and conftitution of cers ' 
whom we have, by thefe prefents, referved to us, our 
heirs, and fucceflbrs, or to the Governour of our faid 
province for the time being ; and to fet-forth the 
feveral duties, powers, and limits, of every fuch officer 
to be appointed by the faid general court, or affembly, 
and the forms of fuch oaths, not repugnant to the laws 
ancT ftatutes of this our realm of England, as (hall be 
refpe&ively adminiftered unto them for the execution of 
their feveral offices and places; and alfo to impofe 

i 3 fmef 



taxes. 



118 

- fines, mulcts, imprifonments, and other punifhments ; 
posing file's anc * t0 i m P°^ e ana * levy proportionable and reafonable 
punih her au ^^ ments ^ rates, and taxes, upon the eftates and per- 
ments; fons of all and every the proprietors or inhabitants of 
levying our faid province or territory, to be iflued and difpofed 
of by warrant under the hand of the Governour of our 
faid province for the time being, with the advice and 
eonfent of the Council, for our fervice, in the neceflary 
defence and fupport of our government of our faid 
province or territory, and the protection and preferva- 
tion of the inhabitants there, according to fuch acts as 
are or fhall be in force within our faid province; and 
to difpofe of matters and things, whereby our fubjects, 
inhabitants of our faid province, may be religioufly, 
peaceably, and civilly governed, protected, and defend- 
ed, fo as their good life, and orderly converfation, 
may win the Indians, natives of the country, to the 
knowledge and obedience of the only true God and 
Saviour of Mankind, and the Chriftian Faith, which 
his late majefty, our royal grandfather, king Charles 
the Firft, in his faid letters patents declared was his 
royal intention, and the adventurers free profeffion to 
be the principal end of the faid plantation ; and for 
the better fecuring and maintaining liberty of consci- 
ence hereby granted to all perfons at any time being 
and refiding within our faid province, or territory, as 
aforefaid, willing, commanding, and requiring, and by 
thefe prefents, for us, our heirs, and fuecevTors, ordain- 
ing and appointing, that all fuch orders, law, flatutes 
and ordinances, inftructions and directions, as fhall be 
fo made and publifhed under our feal of our faid pro- 
vince or territory, fhall be carefully and duly obferved, 
kept, and performed, and put in execution, according 
to the true intent and meaning of thefe prefents. 

Provided 



119 

Provided always, and we do, by thefe prefents, for us, The Gover 

' , , . , nourtohave 

our heirs, and fucceflors, eltablifh and ordain, that in a negative 
the framing and palling of all fuch orders, laws, ft a- ^ bolh 
tutes, and ordinances, and in all elections and acts of Council 

'':''■ " and 

government whatfoever, to be palled, made, or done, by Assembly. 
the faid general Court, or Aflembly, or Council, the Go- 
vemour of our faid province, or territory, of the Mafla- 
chufets-bay in New-England, for the time being, ihal[ 
have the negative voice : and that without his confent 
or approbation, fignified and declared in writing, no 
fuch orders, laws, ilatutes, ordinances, elections, or 
other acts of government whatfoever, fo to be made, 
pafled, or done, by the faid General Aflembly, or in 
Council, (hall be of any force, effect, or validity; any 
thing herein contained to the contrary in any wife not* 
withftanding. 

And we do for us, our heirs, and fucceflors, eftablifh, The acts of 
and ordain, that the laid orders, laws, ftatutes and *l S tTbl y 
ordinances.be by the firft opportunity, after the ma- transmitted 

. . to the king, 

king thereof, fent, or tranfmitted, unto us, our heirs, and to be by 
fucceflors, under the public feal to be appointed by us, vedor 
for our or their approbation or difallowance ; and that dlsallowed ° 
in cafe all, or any of them, (hall, at any time within the 
fpace of three years next after the fame (hall have 
been prefented to us, our heirs, and fucceflors, in our, 
or their, privy-council, be difallowed and rejected, and 
fo fignified by us, our heirs, and fucceflors, under our, 
*or their, fign-manual and fignet, or by order in our, or 
their, privy-council, unto the Governour for the time 
being, then fuch and fo many of them as {hall be fo 
difallowed and rejected, mall thenceforth ceafe and 
determine, and become utterly void, and of none effect : 
Provided always, that in cafe we, our heirs, or fuccef- 
i 4 fors^ 



120 



Power of 

making 

grants cf 

lands 

within 

certain 

bounds, 



and under 

certain 

restrictions 



Power to the 
Governour 
to array the 
militia. 



fors, mall not, within the term of three years after the 
prefenting of fuch orders, laws, (ratines or ordinances, 
as aforefaid, figmfy our or their difallowance of the 
fame, then thefaid orders, laws, ftatutes, or ordinances, 
•asaforefaid, mall be and continue in full force and efTecl:, 
according to the true intent and meaning of the fame, 
until the expiration thereof, or that the fame {hall be 
repealed by the general affembly of our faid province 
for the time being: Provided alfo, that itfhall and may be 
lawful for the faid Governour and general affembly, to 
make, or pafs, any grant of lands lying within the 
bounds of the colonies formerly called the colonies 
of the Maffachufetts-Bay, and New-Plymouth, and 
province of Main, in fuch manner as heretofore they 
might have done by virtue of any former charter or 
letters patents ; which grants of lands, within the 
bounds aforefaid, we do hereby will and ordain to be 
and continue for ever of full force and efTecl;, without 
our further approbation or confent ; and fo as neverthe- 
lefs, and it is our royal will and pleafure, that no grant 
or grants of any lands, lying or extending from the 
river of Sagadehock to the gulf of St. Laurence and 
Canada rivers, and to the main fea northward and east- 
ward, to be made, or patTed, by the Governour and gene- 
ral affembly' of our faid province, be of any force, 
validity, or effect, until we, our heirs, and fucceffors, 
fhall have fignified our, or their, approbation of the 
fame. 

And we do by thefe prefents for us, our heirs, and 
fuccefTors, grant, eftablim, and ordain, that the Gover- 
nour of our faid province, or territory, for the time 
being, mall have full power, by himfelf, or by any 
chief commander, or other officer or officers, to be 

appointed 



121 

appointed by him for time to time, to frame, inftrudfc, 
exercife, and govern, the Militia there, and, for the 
(pecial defence and fafety of our faid province or terri- 
tory, to affemble in martial array, and put in warlike 
pofture, the inhabitants of our faid province or territo- 
ry, and to lead and conduct them, and with them to And to eyn- 
encounter, expulfe, repel, refill:, and purfue, by force P Io - ythemt .° 
of arms, as well as by fea as by land, within or with- ons. 
out the limits of our faid province or territory, and 
alio to kill, flay, deftroy, and conquer, by all fitting 
ways, enterprizes, and means whatfoever, all and every 
fuch perfon or perfons as (hall, at any time hereafter, 
attempt, or enterprize, the deftruetion, invafion, detri- 
ment, or annoyance, of our faid province or territory j 
and to ufe and exercife the law-martial in time of And to 
actual war, invafion, or rebellion, as occafion (hall J^jJJfej 6 
necefTarily require ; and alfo from time to time to ere£t law " 

J l . .in certain 

forts, and to fortify any place or places, within our faid cases and 
province or territory, and the fame to furnifh with all certain 
neceflary ammunition, provifions, and (lores of war restriCtl0ns * 
for offence or defence, and to commit from time to 
time Jthe cuftody and government of the fame to fuch 
perfon or perfons as to him (hall feem meet 5 and the 
faid forts and fortifications to demolifh at his pleafure ; 
and to take and furprife, by all ways and means what- 
foever, all and every fuch perfon or perfons, with their 
(hips, arms, ammunition, and other goods, as (hall in 
a hoftile manner invade, or attempt the invading, con- 
quering, or annoying, of our faid province or territory : 
Provided always, and we do, by thefe prefents, for us, 
our heirs, and fucceffors, grant, eftablifh, and ordain, 
that the faid Governour (hall not at any time hereafter, - 
by virtue of any power hereby granted, or hereafter to 
be granted, to him, tranfport any of the inhabitants of 

our 



122 

our faid province or territory, or oblige them to march 
out of the limits of the fame, without their free and 
voluntary confent, or the confent of the Great and 
General Court, or Affembly, of our faid province or ter- 
ritory, nor grant commiffions for exercifing the law 
martial upon any of the inhabitants of our faid pro- 
vince or territory, without the advice and confent of 
the Council, or Affiftants, of the fame. 
Power of Provided in like manner, and we do by thefe pre- 
Governour" fents, for us, our heirs, and fucceflbrs, conftitute and 
absence of or ^ ain 3 tnat w ben, and as often as, the Governour of our 
the Gover- f a id province for the time being fhall happen to die, or 
be difplaced by us, our heirs, or fucceflbrs, or be ab- 
fent from his government, that then, and in any of 
thefe cafes, the Lieutenant, or Deputy, Governour of 
our faid province for the time being (hall have full pow- 
er and authority to do and execute all and every fuch 
ac~b, matters, and things, which our Governour of our 
faid province for the time being might, or could, by 
virtue of thefe our letters patents, lawfully do or exe- 
cute, if he were perfonally prefent, until the return of 
the Governourfo abfent, or the arrival, or conftitution,of 
fuch other Governour as fhall, or may, be appointed by 
us, our heirs, or fucceflbrs, in his ftead ; and that, when 
the Coun- and as often as, the Governour, and Lieutenant, orDepu- 
Sid pro 6 " *?' Governour, of our faid province or territory, for the 
vince in the t i me beins;, fhall happen to die, or be difplaced by us, 

absence of . . - * , , r r r . , 

both the our heirs, or fucceflbrs, or be abfent from our laid pro- 
andLteate vince, and that there fhall be no perfon within the faid 
" ant province commifiionated bv us, our heirs, or fucceflbrs, 

Governour. r * 

to be Governour within the fame, ihen, and in every of 
the faid cafes, the Council, or Affiftants, of our faid pro- 
vince fhall have full power and authority, and we do 
hereby give, and grant unto the faid Council, or Affift- 
ants, 



123 

ants, of our faid province for the time being, or the 
major part of them, full power and authority to do and 
execute all and every fuch acts, matters, and things, 
which the faid Governour, or Lieutenant, or Deputy, 
Governour, of our faid province or territory, for the time 
being, might or could lawfully do or exercife, if they, 
or either of them, were personally prefent, until the re- 
turn of the Governour, or Lieutenant, orDepnty, Go\er- 
nour, fo abfent,or the arrival, orconftitution,of fuch other 
Governour, or Lieutenant, or Deputy, Governour, as mail 

or may be appointed by us, our heirs, or fucceflbrs, from 
time to time. 

Provided always, and it is hereby declared, that no- raity-Court* 
thing herein contained fhall extend or be taken to ereel: "rJaed V^' 
or grant, or allow the exercife of any Admiralty-Court an 7 autho- 
jurifdidtion, power or authority, but that the fame fhall province, 
be and is hereby referved to us and our fucceflbrs, and unde e r ' th ^ 
fhall from time to time be erected, granted and exer- GreatSeal of 

3 ° England, of 

cifed by virtue of commifiions to be iflued under the the Seal of 
Great Seal of England, or under the Seal of the High Admiral 
Admiral, or the Commifiioners for executing the office of En s lan & 
of High Admiral of England. 

And further, our exprefs will and pleafure is, and we 
do, by thefe prefents, for us, our heirs, and fucceflbrs, 
ordain and appoint, that thefe our letters patent fhall 
not, in any manner, enure, or be taken, to abridge, bar, Thi 
or hinder, any of our loving fubjects whatfoever, to ufe ter shall noi 
a*id exercife the trade of fifhing upon the coafts of New- drance to**" 
England, but that they, and every of them, fhall have £bjS5fL 
full and free power and liberty to continue and ufe the th , eir trade 
faid trade of fifhing upon the faid coafts, in any of the on the 
feas thereunto adjoining, or any arms of the faid feas Nw-Eng- 
or fait- water rivers, where they have been wont to fifh ; landl 
and to build and fet-up on the lands, within our faid 

province 



124 

province or colony, lying wafte, and not then poflefled 
by particular proprietors, fuch wharfs, ftages, and work- 
houfes, as (hall be neceffary for the falling, drying, 
keeping, and packing of their fifli, to be taken or gotten 
upon that coaft, and to cut-down and take fuch trees 
and other materials there growing, or being, upon any 
parts or places lying wafte, and not then in pofleffion of 
particular proprietors, as fhall be needful for that pur- 
pofe, and for all other neceffary eafements, helps, and 
advantages, concerning the faid trade of fifhing there, 
in fuch manner and form as they have been heretofore 
at any time accuftomed to do, without making any wil- 
ful wafte or fpoil ; any thing in thefe prefents contained 

lo the contrary notwithstanding. 

A reserva- J ° 

tion of large And laftly, for the better providing and furnifhing 
use cf the ofmafts for our royal navy, we do hereby referve to us, 
our heirs, and fucceftbrs, all trees of the diameter of 
twenty-four inches, and upwards of twelve inches 
from the ground, growing upon any foil, or trac~f. of 
land, within our faid province or territory, not hereto- 
fore granted to any private perfons; and we do reftrain 
and forbid all perfons whatfoever from felling, cutting, 
or deftroying any fuch trees without the royal licenfe 
of us, our heirs and fucceftbrs, flrft had and obtained, 
upon penalty of forfeiting one hundred pounds fterling 
unto us, our heirs, and fucceftbrs, for every fuch tree 
fo felled, cut, or deftroyed, without fuch licenfe had 
and obtained in that behalf; any thing in thefe pre- 
fents contained to the contrary in any wife notwith- 
standing. In witnefs, &c. Witnefs ourfelves at 

Weftminfter the feventh day of October. 

of 
By Writ Privy Seal. 



THE 



THE 

VOTES AND PROCEEDINGS 

OF THE 

FREEHOLDERS AND OTHER INHABITANTS 

OF THE 

TOWN OF BOSTON, 

IN TOWN MEETING ASSEMBLED, ACCORDING TO LAW, 

[PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF THE TOWN.] 

To which is prefixed, as Introductory, 

AN ATTESTED COPY OF A VOTE OF THE TOWN AT 

A PRECEDING MEETING. 

THE WHOLE CONTAINING A PARTICULAR ENUMERATION OF 

THOSE GRIEVANCES THAT HAVE GIVEN RISE TO THE 

PRESENT ALARMING DISCONTENTS IN AMERICA. 

[Boston printed, London reprinted, 177 3, J 



PREEACE OF THE BRITISH EDITOR 

All accounts of the difcontent fo general in our colonies^ 
have of late years been induftriouily fmothered, and con- 
cealed here; it feeming to fait the views of the American 
minifter *, to have it underftood, that by his great abilities 
all faction was fubdued, all oppoflition fupprefled, and the 
whole country quieted. — That the true ftate of ^affairs 
there may be known, aud the true caufes of that difcontent 
well underftood, the following piece (not the production of 
a private writer, but the unanimous act of a large American 
city) lately printed in New-England, is republifhed here. 

* The Earl of Hillsborough. 

This 



126 

This nation, and the other nations of Europe, may thereby 
learn with more certainty the grounds of a diffenfion, 
that poffibly may, fooner or later, have confequences in- 
terefting to them all. 

The colonies had, from their firft fettlement, been go- 
verned with more eafe than perhaps can be equalled by any 
inftance in hiftory, of dominions fo diftant. Their affection 
and refpect for this country, while they were treated with 
kindnefs, produced an almoft implicit obedience to the in- 
ftru&ions of the prince, and even to ac-ts of the Britifh par- 
liament, though the right of binding them by a legiflature 
in which they were unreprefented, was never clearly un- 
derftood. That refpect and affection produced a partiality 
in favour of every thing that was Englifh; whence their 
preference of Englifli modes and manufactures; their fub- 
miffion to reftraints on the importation of foreign goods, 
which they had but little defire to ufe; and the monopoly we 
fo long enjoyed of their commerce, to the great enriching 
of our merchants and artificers. The miftaken policy of 
the ftamp-a& firft difturbed this happy fituation; but the 
flame thereby raifed was foon extinguifhed by its repeal, 
and the old harmony reftored, with ail its concomitant ad- 
vantages to our commerce. The fubfequent act of another 
adrniniftration*, which, not content with an eftabliftied ex- 
clufion of foreign manufactures, began to make our own 
merchandize dearer to the confumers there by heavy du- 
ties, revived it again: and combinations were entered into 
throughout the Continent, to flop trading with Britain till 
thofe duties fhould be repealed. All were accordingly re- 
pealed but one, the duty on tea. This was referved profefT- 
edly as a (landing claim and exercife of the right afiumed 
by parliament of laying fuch duties. The colonies, on this 

* That of the Duke of Grafton, as First Lord of the Treasury, 
and Mr. Charles Townshend (brother to General Lord Viscount 
Townshend,) as Chancellor of the Exchequer. 

repeal 



12? 

repeal, retracted their agreement, fo far as related to all 
other goods , except that on which the duty was retained. 
This was trumpeted here by the minifter for the colonies as 
a triumph; there it was confidered only as a decent and 
equitable meafure, (howing a willingnefs to meet the mother 
country in every advance towards a reconciliation. And 
the difpofition to a good underftanding was fo prevalent, 
that poffiHV they might foon have relaxed in the article of 
tea alfo. Bat the fyftem of commiffioners of cuftoms, offi- 
cers without end, with fleets and armies for collecting and 
enforcing thofe duties, being continued, and acting with 
much indifcretion and rafhnefs, giving great and unnecefiary 
trouble and obftruction to bufinefs, commencing unju ft and 
vexatious fuits, and harafling commerce in all its branches, 
while that minifter kept the people in a conftant ftate of ir- 
ritation by inftructions which appeared to have no other 
end than the gratifying his private refentments*, occafioned 
a persevering adherence to their refolution in that parti- 
cular: and the event mould be a leftbn to minifters, not 
to rifque, through pique, the obftrueting any one branch of 
trade, fince the courfe and connection of general bufinefs 
mav be thereby difturbed to a degree impoffible to be fore- 
feen or imagined. For it appears, that the colonies, find- 
ing their humble petitions to have this duty repealed, were 
rejected and treated with contempt, and that the produce of 
the duty was applied to the rewarding with undeferved fala- 
ries and penfions every one of their enemies, the dutv itfelf 
became more odious, and their refolution to flarve it more 
vigorous and obftinate. The Dutch, the Danes and French, 
took the advantage thus offered them by our imprudence, 
and began to fmuggle their teas into the plantations. At 

* Some of his circular letters had been criticised and exposed by 
one or tM r o of the American assemblies. 

firft 



128 

firft this was fomewhat difficult; but at length, as all bufU 
nefs improves by practice, it became eafy. A coaft 1500 
miles in length, could not in all parts be guarded, even by 
the whole navy of England, efpecially where the reftraining 
authority was by all the inhabitants deemed unconftitutional, 
and fmuggling of courfe considered as patriotifm. The 
needy wretches too, who, with fmallialaries, were trufted to 
watch the ports day and night, in all weathers, found it 
eafier and more profitable, not only to wink, but to fleep in 
their beds, the merchant's pay being more generous than the 
king's. Other India goods alfo, which by themfelves would 
not have made a fmuggling voyage fufficiently profitable, 
accompanied tea to advantage: and it is feared the cheap 
French filks formerly rejected as not to the tafte of the colo- 
nifts, may have found their way with the wares of India, and 
now eftablifhed themfelves in the popular ufe and opinion. 
It is fuppofed that at lead a million of Americans drink 
tea twice a day, which, at the firft coft here, can fcarce be 
reckoned at lefs than half a guinea a head per annum. This 
market, that in the five years which have run-on fince the 
a6t palled, would have paid 2,500,000 guineas for tea 
alone, into the coffers of the company, we have wantonly 
loft to foreigners. Meanwhile it is faid the duties have 
fo diminifhed, that the whole remittance of the laft year 
amounted to no more than the pitiful fum of 85 pounds for 
the expence of fome hundred thoufands in armed fhips 
and foldiers to fupport the officers. Hence the tea and 
other India goods that might have been fold in America, 
remain rotting in the company's warehoufes, while thofe of 
foreign ports are known to be cleared by the American de- 
mand. Hence, in fome degree, the company's inability to 
pay their bills, the finking of their ftock, by which millions 
of property have been annihilated; the lowering of thei divi- 
dend, whereby fo many muft be diftrefled; the lofs to go- 
vernment 



129 

vernment of the flipulated 400,000 pounds a year, tvhich. 
iiiuft make a proportionable reduction in our favings to- 
wards the difcharge of our enormous debt; and hence in 
part the fevere blow futTered by credit in general, to the 
ruin of many families; the ftagnation of bufinefs in Spital- 
Fields and at Manchefter, through want of vent for theit 
goods; with other future evils, which, as they cannot, from 
the numerous and fecret connections in general commerce^ 
eafily be foreseen, can hardly be avoided. * 

JLt a Meeting of the Freeholders and oilier Inha* 
hitants of the fTozvn of Boston, duly warned* 
and legally assembled, in Faneuil 'Hall, on 
Wednesday the 28th of October , 1172; and from 
thence continued by Adjournments to Monday 
ihe2d of November following ; 

It was moved, 
That a Committee of Correfpondence be appointed, to 
confift. of twenty-cine perfons, u to Hate the rights of the 
Cotonifts, and of this province in particular, as Men, as 
Chriftians, and as Subjects; to communicate and publifli the 
fame to the feveral towns in this province, and to the 
world, as the fenfe of this town, with the infringements 
and violations thereof, that have been, or from time to 
time maybe, made; al'fo -requefting of each town a free 
communication of their fentiments on this fubjecV 

Whereupon the following gentlemen were nominated 
and appointed for the purpofes aforefaid, to make report Id 

* This Prefaceof the British Editor to the second edition of this 
pamphlet, at London in the year 1773, was probably written %f the 
celebrated Dr. Benjamin Franklin, who was then in England, and 
-did not go to North America till April, 1774. 

k <s1r 



130 

the town as foon as may be, viz. The Hon. James Otis.? 
Efq.; Mr. Samuel Adams, Dr. Jofeph Warren, Dr. Benja- 
min Church, Mr. William Dennie, Mr. William Green- 
leaf, Jofeph Greenlcaf, Efq. ; Dr. Thomas Young, Mr. Wil- 
liam Powell, Mr. Nathaniel Appleton, Mr. Oliver Wen- 
dell, Mr. John Sweetfer, Jofiah Quincy, Efq.; Capfr. John 
Bradford, Richard Boynton, Efq.; Captain William Mac- 
kay, Major Nathaniel Barber, Deacon Caleb Davis, Mr. 
Alexander Hill, Mr. William Moliaeux, and Mr. Robert 

Pierpont. 

A true Copy. 

Atteft. 
WILLIAM COOPER, Town Clerk. 



At a Meeting of the Freeholders and other Inha- 
bitants of the Toivri of Boston, duly warned 
and assembled in Faneuil-Hall according to 
Law on Friday^ the 20th of November, 1772; 
then and there to receive and act upon the 
Report of a Committee appointed at a former 
Meeting on the 2d of the same Month, and 
such other Things as might properly come under 
the Consideration of the Town. 

The Honorable John Hancock, Efq. being unanimoufly 
chofen Moderator, the Chairman of the faid Committee 
acquainted him that he was ready to make Report, and 
read the fame, as follows : 

The Committee appointed by the Town, the 2d inftant, 
" to ftate the rights of the Colonifts, and of this province 
in particular, as Men, as Chriftians, and as Subjects ; to 

communicate 



131 

comftiunicate and publim the fame to the feveral towns iri this 
province and to the world, as the fenfe of this town, with 
the infringements and violations thereof, that have been, 
or from time to time may be made : alfo requefting of each 
town a free communication of their fentiments on this fub- 
je&," beg leave to report : 

Firft, A State of the Rights of the Colonics, and of this 

Province in particular. 
Secondly, A Lift of the Infringements and Violations of 

thofe Rights. 
Thirdly, A Letter of Correfpondence with the other 
Towns* 

I. Natural Rights of the Colonifts as Men. 

Among the natural rights of the Colonifts are thefe: 
Firft, a right to life; fecondly, to liberty] thirdly, to pro- 
perty, together with the right to fupport and defend them 
in the beft manner they can. Thefe are evident branches 
of, rather than deductions from, the duty of felf- prefer vation.^ 
commonly called the firft law of nature. 

All men have a right to remain in a ftate of nature as 
long as they pleafe: and in cafe of intolerable oppreffion., 
civil or religious, to leave the fociety they belong to, and 
enter into another. 

When men enter into fociety, it is by voluntary confent; 
and they have a right to demand and infift upon the perform- 
ance of fuch conditions and previous limitations as form 
an equitable original compacl. 

Every natural right, not exprefsly given-up, or, from the 
nature of afocial compact, neceflarily ceded, remains. 

All pofitive and civil laws mould conform, as far as pof- 
fible, to the law of natural reafon and equity. 



132 

As neither reafom requires, nor religion permits, the con- 
trary, every man living in, or out of, a date of civil fociety, 
has a right peaceably and quietly to worfliip God, accord- 
ins: to the dictates of his confcience. 

i<r Just and true libertr, equal and impartial liberty" in 
matters fpiritual and temporal, is a thing that all men are 
clearly entitled-to, by the eternal and immutable laws of 
God and nature, as well as by the law of nations, and alt 
well-grounded municipal laws, which muft have their foun- 
dation in the former. 

In regard to religion,, mutual toleration in the different 
profeffions thereof, is what all good and candid minds in 
all ages have ever practifed; and both by precept and exam- 
ple inculcated on mankind: and it is now generally agreed 
among Chridians, that this fpirit of toleration, in the fulleft 
extent, confident with the being of civil fociety, " is the 
-chief characteriftical mark of the true church*. " Info- 
much that Mr, Locke has afferted, and proved beyond the 
poffibility of contradiction on any folid ground, thai fueh 
toleration ought to be extended to all whofe doctrines are 
not fubverfive of fociety. The only feels which he thinks 
ought to he, and which by all wife laws are, excluded from 
fuch toleration, are thofe who teach doctrines fubverfive of 
the civil government under which they live. The Homaiv 
Catholicks, or Papids, are excluded, by reafon of fuch doc- 
trines as thefe, 6 f that princes excommunicated may be de- 
pofed, and thofe they call hsretkls may be destroyed with- 
out mercy; " befides their recognizing the Pope in fo abfo- 
lute a manner, in fubverfion of government, by introducing, 
as far poflible, into the dates, under whofe protection they 
enjoy life, liberty, and property, that folecifm in politicks 

• See Locke's Letters- on ToleratioDf 

linger turn 



133 

impcrium- in imperio*, leading directly to the worft anarchy 
and confufion, civil difcord, war, and bloodfhed. 

The natural liberty of man, by entering into fociety, is 
abridged or refrrained fo far only as is neceffary for the great 
end of fociety., the beft good of the whole. 

In the ftate of nature, every man is, under God, judge, 
and Pole judge, of his own rights, and of the injuries done 
him: by entering into fociety, he agrees to an arbiter, or in- 
different judge, between him and his neighbours; but he no 
more renounces his original right, than by taking a caufe 
out of the ordinary courfe of law, and leaving the decifion 
to referees, or indifferent arbitrators. In the I aft cafe he 
muff pay the referees for time and trouble; he mould alfo 
be willing to pay his juft quota for the fupport of govern- 
ment, the law, and the conftitution; the end of which is to 
furnifh indifferent and impartial judges in all cafes which 
may happen, whether civil, ecclefiaftical, marine, or mili- 
tary. 

" The natural liberty of man is to be free from any fupe- 
riour power on earth, and not to be under the will, or legifla- 
tive authority, of man; but only to have the law of nature 
for his rulef." 

In the date of nature, men may, as the Patriarchs did, 
employ hired fervants for the defence of their lives, liber- 
ties, and property ; and they mould pay them reafonable 
wages. Government was inftituted for the purpofes of com- 
mon defence; and thofe who hold the reins of government 
have an equitable natural right to an honourable fupport from 
-the fame principle u that the labourer is worthy of his 
hire: 5 ' but then the fame community which they ferve, 
sught to be the afieiTors of their pay: governours have no 

* A government within a government, 
t Locke on Government, 

K 3 right 



134 

right to feek and take what they plcafe; by this, inftead of 
being content with the ftation afligned them, that of honoura* 
ble fervants of the fociety, they would foon become abfolute 
mafters, defpots, and tyrants. Hence as a private man has 
a right to fay, what wages he will give in his private affairs, 
fo has a community to determine what they will give and 
grant of their fubftance, for the administration of publick 
affairs. And in both cafes, more are ready generally to 
offer their fervice at the propofed and ftipulated price, than 
are able and willing to perform their duty. 

In {hort, it is the greatefl abfurdity to fuppofe it in the 
power of one, or any number of men, at the entering into 
fociety, to renounce their effential natural rights, or the 
means of preferving thofe rights; when the grand end of 
civil government, from the very nature of its inftitution, is 
for the fupport, protection, and defence of thofe very rights, 
the principal of which, as is before obferved, are life, liber- 
ty, and property. If men, through fear, fraud, or miflake, 
ihould in terms renounce, or give-up, any effential natural 
right, the eternal law of reafon and the grand end of fociety, 
would absolutely vacate fuch renunciation; the right to 
freedom being the gift of God Almighty, it is not in the 
power of man to alienate this gift, and voluntarily become 
a (lave, 

II. The Rights of the Colonifts as Chriftians. 

Thefe may be beft underftood by reading and carefully 
fludying the inftitutes of the great lawgiver and head of the 
Chriftian Church, which are to be found clearly written 
and promulgated in the New-Tef lament. 

By the act of the Britim Parliament commonly called 
The toleration-atl, every fubjeel: in England, except PapUls, 
he, was reftored to, and re-eflablifhed in, his natural right 

tQ 



135 

to worship God according to the dictates of his own con- 
fcience. And by the charter of this province, it is granted, 
ordained and eftablifhed (that is, declared as an original right) 
that there mall be liberty of confcience allowed in the wor- 
fhip of God, to all Chriftians except Papifts, inhabiting, 
or which fliall inhabit or be reiident within the faid province 
or territory*. Magna Charta itfelf is in fubftancebut a con- 
tained declaration, or proclamation and promulgation, in 
the name of King, Lords and Commons, of the fenfe the 
latter had, of their original, inherent, indefeafible natural 
rights ;f as alfo thofe of free citizens, equally perdurable 
with the other. That great author, that great jurift, and 
even that court writer, Mr. Juftice Blackjhne, holds, that 
this recognition was juftly obtained of King John fword-in- 
hand : and peradventure it mull be one day sword-in- 
hand again refcued and preferved from total defirudtion and 
oblivion, 

III. The Rights of the Colonifts as Suhjecls. 

A Commonwealth, or State, is a body politick, or civil so- 
ciety of men, united together to promote their mutual fafe- 
ty and profperity, by means of their Union j. 

The ahfolute rights of Engliflimen, and all freemen in, or 
out of, civil society, are principally, personal fecurity, per- 
sonal liberty and private property. 

All perfons born in the Britifn American colonies, are, 
by the laws of God and nature, and by the common law of 
England, exclufive of all charters from the Crown, well enti^ 
tied, and by a£ts of the Britifh Parliament are declared to 

* See 1 Wm. and Mary, St^ 2. C. 18. and Massachusetts Charter, 
in the third year of William and Mary. See above, page 1 15. 

f Lord Coke's Inst. Blackstone's Commentaries, V. 1. pa. 122. 
the Bill of Rights and the Act of Settlement. 

J Se« Locke and Vattel. 

k 4 be 



136 

be entitled, to all the natural, efTential, inherent and infepa-i 
rable rights, liberties and privileges of fubje&s born in Grea 
Britain, or within the realm. Among thofe rights are 
the following ; which no man, or body of men, confident- 
ly with their own rights as men and citizens, or members 
of fociety, can for themfelves give-up,, or take-away from 
others. 

F'ir/i f " The firft fundamental pofitive law of all Com- 
monwealths or States, is the eftablifhing the legiflative pow- 
er: As the firft fundamental natural law alfo, which is to 
govern even the legiflative power itfelf, is the prefervation 
of the society."* 

Secondly, The legiflative has no right to abfolute, arbi- 
trary, power over the lives and fortunes of the people : Nor 
can mortals affiime a prerogative,, not only too high for 
men, but for angels ; and therefore referved for the exer- 
cife of the Deity alone. 

<e The legiflative cannot juftly affume to itfelf a power to 
rule by extempore, arbitrary, decrees •, but it is bound to fee 
that juftice is-difpenfed, and that the rights of the fubjecls 
be decided, by promulgated, ftanding, and known, laws, and 
authorized independent Judges'" that is, independent, as 
far as poffible,, of prince and people. " There JJjould be 
one- rule of Juftice for rich and poor ; for the favourite at 
court y and the countryman at the plough.' } \ 

Thirdly, The fupreme power cannot juftly take from any 
man, any part of his property without his confent, in per- 
fon or by his reprefentative. 

Thefe are fome of the firft principles of natural law and 
juftice, and the great barriers of all free ftates, and of the 
Britifh constitution in particular. It is utterly irreconcileable 

* Locte on- Government Sal us Populr snprema Lex esto. 
t Locke. 

tor 



IS 



to thefe principles, and to many other fundamental maxims 
of the common law, common fenfe, and reafon, that a Bri- 
tifh Houfe of Commons mould have a right, at pleafure, to 
give and grant the property of the colonilfe. That thefe 
colonifts are well entitled to all the elfential rights, liberties, 
and privileges of men and freemen, born in Britain, is ma- 
nifeft, not only from the colony-char ers in general, but 
from acts of the Britifh parliament. The ftatute of the 13th of 
Geo. II. c. 7. naturalizes even foreigners after feven years 
refidence. The words of the Mafiachufetts-Charter are 
thefe ; u And further our will and pleafure is, and we do 
hereby for us, our heirs, and fuccefibrs, grant, eftablifh, and 
ordain, that all and every of the fubje&s of us, our heirs, 
and fuccefibrs, which mail go to, and inhabit within, our 
faid province or territory, and every of their children 
which fhall happen to be born there, or on the feas in go- 
ing thither, or returning from thence, (hall have and enjoy 
all liberties and immunities of free and natural fubjects 
within any of the dominions of us, our heirs, and fuceef- 
fors, to all intents, con ft ructions, and purpofes whatfoever, 
as if they, and every of them, were born within this our 
realm of England.'' Now what liberty can there be, where 
properly is taken-away without confent ? Can it be faid 
with any colour of truth and juftice, that this continent of 
three thoufand miles in length, and of a breadth as yet unex- 
plored, in which however, it is fuppofed, there are five mil- 
lions of people, has the leaft voice, vote, or influence in the 
decifions of the Britifh parliament ? Have they, all too-e-- 
ther, any more right or power to return a (ingle member to 
that Houfe of Commons, who have (not inadvertently, but 
deliberately) afTumed a power to difpofe of their lives*, 
liberties and properties, than to ehoofe an Emperor of China? 

*See the Act of the last Session relating to the King's dock-yards. 

*Had 



138 

Had the colonifts a right to return members to the Britim 
Parliament, it would only be hurtful ; as from their local 
fituation and circumftances, it is impoffible they fhould be 
ever truly and properly reprefented there. The inhabitants 
of this country, in all probability, in a few years, will be 
more numerous than thofe of Great Britain and Ireland 
together : Yet it is abfurdly expected, by the promoters of 
the prefent meafures, that thefe, with their pofterity to all 
generations, mould be eafy, while their property (hall be 
difpofed-of by a Houfe of Commons at three thoufand 
miles diftance from them ; and who cannot be fuppofed to 
have the leaft care or concern for their real interefi : who 
have not only no natural care for their interefi:, but muft 
be in effeB bribed againfl it ; as every burden they lay on 
the Colonifts is fo much faved or gained to themfeives. Hi- 
therto many of the colonifts have been free, from quit-rents; 
but, if the breath of a Britim Houfe of Commons can ori- 
ginate an act for taking-away all our money, our lands will 
go next, or be fubject to rack-rents from haughty and re- 
lentlefs landlords, who- will ride ateafe, while we are trodden 
in the dirt. The Colonifts have been branded with the odi- 
ous names of traitors and rebels only for complaining of 
their grievances : How long fuch treatment will, or ought 
to be born, is fubmitted. 

A Lift of Infringements and Violations of Rights. 

We cannot help thinking, that art enumeration of fome 
of the molt open infringements of our rights, will by every 
candid perfon be judged fufficient to juftify whatever mea- 
fures have been already taken, or may be thought proper to 
be taken, in order to obtain aredrefs of the grievances un-s 
dei which we labour. Among many others, we humbly 

con- 



139 

conceive, that the following will not fail to excite the atten- 
tion of all who conlider themfelves interefted in the happi- 
nefs and freedom of mankind in genera!, and of this conti- 
nent and province in particular. 

lft. The Britifh Parliament have affumed the powers of 
legiflation for the colonifts in all cafes whatfoever, without 
obtaining the confent of the inhabitants, which is ever ef- 
fentially neceffary to the rightful eftablifhment of fuch ale- 
giflative. 

2dly. They have exerted that affumed power, in railing a 
revenue in the colonies without their confent ; thereby de- 
priving them of that right which every man has to keep his 
own earnings in his own hands until he {hall, in perfon, or 
by his reprefentative, think fit to part with the whole or any 
portion of it. This infringement is the more extraordinary, 
when we consider the laudable care which the Britifh Houfe 
of Commons have taken, to referve entirely and abfolutely 
to themfelves the powers of giving and granting money. 
They not only infift on originating every money-bill in 
their houfe, but will not even allow the Houfe of Lords to 
make an amendment in thefe bills 5 fo tenacious are they 
of this privilege, fo jealous of any infringement of the fole 
and abfolute right the people have to difpofe of their own 
money ; and what renders this infringement the more griev- 
ous is, that what of our earnings ftill remains in our hands, 
is in a great meafure deprived of its value, fo long as the 
Britifh Parliament continue to claim and exercife this power 
of taxing us; for we cannot juftly call that our property, 
which others may, when they pleafe, take-away from us 
again ft our will. 

In this refpect we are treated with lefs decency and regard 
than the Romans mowed even to the provinces which they 
had conquered. They only determined upon the fum which 

each 



140 

each fhouki furnifb, and left every province to raife it ill 
the manner moft eafy and convenient to themfelveS. 

3<Jly. A number of new officers, unknown in the charter 
of this province, have been appointed to fuperintend this 
revenue j whereas by our charter, the Great and General 
Court, or AfTembly, of this province, has the fole right of 
appointing all civil officers, excepting only fuch officers, 
the election and conftitution of whom is, in faid charters, 
exprefsly excepted; among whom thefe officers are not 
included. 

4thlv. Thefe officers are by their commiffions invefted 
with powers altogether unconftitutional, and entirely de- 
finitive to that fecurity which we have a right to enjoy; 
and to the lad degree dangerous, not only to our property, 
but to our lives; for the commiflioners of his Majefty's 
cuftoms in America, or any three of them, are by their 
commiffion empowered, "by writing under their hands 
and feals, to conftitute and appoint inferiour officers in all 
and lingular the ports within the limits of their commif- 
fions." Each of thefe petty officers fo made is intruded with 
power more abfolute and arbitrary than ought to be lodged 
in the hands of any man, or body of men, whatfoever; for 
in the commiffion aforementioned, his Majcfty gives and 
grants unto his faid commiffioners, or any three of them, 
and to all and every the collectors, deputy-colleclors, 
minifters, fervants, and all other officers ferving and attend- 
ing in all and every the ports and other places within the 
limits of their commiffion, full power and authority, from 
time to time, at their, or any of their, wills and pleafures, 
as well by night as by day, to enter and go on board any 
(hip, boat, or other vefTtl, riding, lying, or being within, or 
coming into, any port, harbour, creek, or haven, within the 
limits of their commiffion 3 and alfo in the day-time to go 

into 



141 

into any- houfe, (hop, cellar, or any other place, when* 
any good s, wares, or merchandizes lie concealed, or are 
jyfpected to lie concealed, whereof the cuftoms and other 
duties, have not been, or {hall not be, duly paid and truly 
fatisfied, anfwered, or paid unto the collectors, deputy-col- 
leclors, minilters, fervants^ and other officers refpectively, 
or otherwife agreed for ; and the faid houfe, (hop, ware- 
ho ufe, cellar, and other place, to fearch andftirvcy, and all and 
every the boxes, trunks, cherts and packs then and there 
found to break-open," 

Thus ourhoufes, and even our bed-chambers, are expofed 
to be ranfacked, our boxes, trunks, and cherts broke-open* 
ravaged, and plundered, by wretches, whom no prudent 
man would venture to employ even as menial fervants^ 
whenever they are pleaied to fay they fufpeft there are in 
the houfe, wares, &c. for which the duties have not beer* 
paid. Flagrant instances of the wanton exercife of this 
power have frequently happened in this and other fea-port 
towns. By this we are cut-off from that domeftiek fecurity 
which renders the lives of the mod unhappy ill fome 
meafure agreeable. Thefe officers may, under colour of law^ 
and the cloak of a general warrant, break through the 
facred rights of the domicile ranfack men's houfes, deftroy 
their fecurities, carry-off their property, and, with little 
danger to themfelves, commit the mod horrid murders. 

And we complain of it as a further grievance, that not- 
wilhftanding by the charter of this province, the Governour 
and the Great and General Court, or Affembly of this pro- 
vince or territory, for the time being, fhall have full power 
and authority, from time to time, to make, ordain, and 
eftablifh all manner of wholefome and eafonable laws^ 
orders, ftatutes, and ordinances, directions and intlrudlions, 
and that, if the fame fhall not within the term of three 

' • years- 



143 

years after prefetititig the fame to his Majefty in privy- 
council, be difallowed, they fnall be and continue in full 
force and effect, until the fame mall be repealed by the 
Grea-t and General AfTembly of this province : yet the parlia- 
ment of Great-Britain have rendered, or attempted to 
render, null and void, a law of this province^ made and 
paired in the reign of his late Majefty George the Firft, enti- 
tled, "An act ftating the fees of the cuftom-houfe officers 
within this province j" and, by mere dint -of power, in 
violation of the charter aforefaid, eftablimed other and 
exorbitant fees, for the fame officers; any law of the 
province to the contrary notwithftanding. 

5thly. Fleets and armies have been introduced to fupport 
thefe unconftitutional officers in collecting and managing 
this unconftitutional revenue; and troops have been quar- 
tered in this metropolis for that purpofe. Introducing and 
quartering (landing armies in a free country in times of 
peace, without the eon fen t of the people either by them- 
felves or by their reprefentatives, is, and always has been 
deemed, a violation of their rights as freemen; and of the 
charter, or compact made between the king of Great Britain 
and the people of this province, whereby all the rights of 
Eritifh fubje&s are confirmed to us. 

6th!y* The revenue ariflng from this tax, unconftitutionally 
laid, and committed to the management of perfons arbi- 
trarily appointed and fupported by an armed force quarter- 
ed in a free citv, has been in part applied to the mod 
deftructive purpofes. It is abfolutely necefTary in a mixt 
government, like that of this province, that a due propor- 
tion, or balance of power, mould be eftablimed among the 
feveral branches of the legiflative. Our anceftors received 
from King William and Queen Mary a charter, by which 
it was underftood by both parties in the contract, that fuch 

a pro- 



143 

a proportion, or balance, was fixed ; and therefore every 
thing which renders any one branch ef the legiflative more 
independent of the other two than it was originally defign- 
ed, is an alteration of the conftitution as fettled by the char- 
ter ; and, as it has been, until the eftablifhment of this 
Tevenue, the conftant practice of the general affembly to 
provide for the fupport of government, fo it is an effential 
part of our conftitution, as it is a necefTary means of pre- 
ferving an equilibrium, without which we cannot continue 
a free ftate. 

In particular it has always been held, that the dependance 
of the Governour of this province upon the General AfTembly 
for his fupport, was necefTary for the prefervation of this 
equilibrium", neverthelefs his Majefty has been pleafed to 
apply fifteen hundred pounds fterling annually, out of the 
American revenue, for the fupport of the Governour of this 
province independent of the affembly ; whereby the anci- 
ent connection between him and his people is weakened, 
the confidence in the Governour leffened, the equilibrium 
deftroyed, and the conftitution effentially altered. 

And we look upon it as highly probable, from the beft 
intelligence we have been able to obtain, that not only our 
Governour and Lieutenant-governour, but the Judges of the 
fuperiour court of judicature, as alfo the King's Attorney 
and Solicitor-general, are to receive their fupport from this 
grievous tribute. This will, if accomplifhed, compleat our 
flavery : for, if taxes are to be raifed from us by the parlia- 
ment of Great Britain without our confent, and the men 
on whofe opinions and decifions our properties, liberties, 
and lives, in a great meafure depend, receive their fupport 
from the revenue ariflng from thefe taxes, we cannot, 
when we think on the depravity of mankind, avoid looking 
with horror on the danger to which we are expofed ! The 
Britifti parliament have mown their wifdom in making the 



H4 

judges there as independent as poflible both on the prince 
and people, both for place and fupport; but our judges 
hold their commiffions only during pieafure; the granting 
them falaries out of this revenue is rendering them depen- 
dant on the crown for their fupport. The King, upon his 
firSt acceffion to the throne, for giving the laft hand to the 
independency of the judges in England) not only upon 
himfelf but hisfucceifors, by recommending and conferring 
to an act of parliament, by which the judges are continued 
in office, notwithstanding the demife of the King, (which 
vacates all other commiffions,) was applauded by the whole 
nation. How alarming therefore muftit be to the inhabit- 
ants of this province, to find fo wide a difference made 
between the fubjects in Britain and in America, as the 
rendering the judges here altogether dependant on the 
Crown for their fupport. 

Jrthly, We find ourfelves greatly oppreffed by instructions 
fent to our Governour from the court of Great Britain; where- 
by the firft branch of our legislature is made merely a 
minifterial engine. And the province has already felt fuch 
effects from thefe instructions as, we think, juStly entitle us 
to fay, that they threaten an entire destruction of our 
liberties ; and rauft foon, if not checked, render every 
branch of our government a ufelefs burthen upon the 
people. We Shall point-out feme of the alarming effects 
of thefe inftructions which have already taken place. 

In confequence of instructions, the Governour has called 
and adjourned our General Affemblies to a place highly 
inconvenient to the members, and greatly difadvantageous 
to the interest of the province, even againSt his own 
declared intention. 

In confequence of instructions, the Affembly has been 
prorogued from time to time, when the important concerns 
of the province required their meeting. 

hi 



145 

In obedience to Inftruftions the General Aflembly was, 
Anno 1768, dhTolved by Governour Bernard, becaufe they 
would not confent to rejcind the resolution of a former 
houfe, and thereby facrince the rights of their conftitu- 
ents. 

By an InftrucYion, the honourable his Majefty's Council 
are forbid to meet and tranfact matters of publick concern, 
as a 'Council of advice to the Governour, unlefs called by the 
Governour ; and if they mould, from a zealous regard to 
the intereft of the province, fo meet at any time, the 
Governour is ordered to negative them at the next election 
of Councellors. And, although, by the charter of this 
province, the Great and General Court have full power and 
authority to impofe taxes upon the eftates and perfons 
of all and every the proprietors and inhabitants of this 
province, yet the Governour has been forbidden to give his 
confent to an act impofmg a tax for the neceffary fupport 
of Government, unlefs fuch perfons, as were pointed-out in 
the faid Inilru&ion, were exempted from paying their juft 
proportion of the faid tax. 

His Excellency has alfo pleaded Inftructions for giving- 
up the provincial fortrefs, Caftle- William, into the hands 
of troops, over whom he had declared he had no controul ; 
(and that at a time when they were menacing the (laugh- 
ter of the inhabitants of the town, and our ftreets were 
flained with blood which they had barbaroufly fhed.) 
Thus our Governour, appointed and paid from Grerit- 
Britain with money forced from us, is made an internment 
of totally preventing, or at lead of rendering futile, every 
attempt of the ojher two branches of our Legifiative in 
favour of the diftreffed and wronged people : and, left the 
complaints, naturally occafioned by fuch oppreflion, mould 
excite companion in the royal bread, and induce his Ma- 
jefty feriouily to fet- about relieving us. from the cruel 
l bondage 



146 

bondage and Infults which We, his loyal fubjec"b, have 
fo long fuffered, the Governour is fotbidden to content to 
the payment of an Agent to reprefent our grievances at 
the Court of Great-Britain, unlefs he, the Governour, 
confent to his election ; and we very well know what 
the man muji be to whofe appointment a Governour, in 
fuch circumftances, will conferit. 

While we are mentioning the infringements of the rights 
of this colony in particular by means of Inftrucfions, we 
cannot help calling to remembrance the late unexampled 
fufpenfion of the legiflative of a filler colony, New-York, 
by force of an InftrucTion, until they fhould comply with 
an arbitrary a6fc of the Britifh parliament, for quartering 
troops, defigned, by military execution, to enforce the 
raifing of a tribute. 

8thly. The extending the power of the Courts of Vice- 
Admiralty to fo enormous a degree, as deprives the people 
jn the colonies, in a great meafure, of their ineftimable 
rights to trials hy Juries ; which has ever been juftly 
confidered as the grand bulwark and fecurity of Englifh 
property. 

This alone is fufficient to roufe our jealoufy ; and we 
are again obliged to take notice of the remarkable contraft, 
which the Britifh parliament have been pleafed to exhibit 
between the fubjects in Great-Britain and the colonies. In 
the fame ftatute, by which they give-up to the decifion of 
one dependant interested Judge of Admiralty the eftates 
and properties of the colonifts, they exprefsly guard the 
eftates and properties of the people of Great-Britain : for 
all forfeitures and penalties inflicled by the ftatute of the 
fourth of George the third, or any other a& of parliament 
relative to the trade of the colonies, may be fued-for in any 
Court of Admiralty in the colonies ; but all penalties and 
forfeitures which (hall be incurred in Great-Britain, may 

be 



147 

he fucd-for in any of his Majcfty's Courts of Record in 
Weftminfter, or in the Court of Exchequer in Scotland, 
reflectively. Thus our birth-rights are taken from us ; 
and that too with every mark of indignity, infult and 
contempt. We may be harafled and dragged from one 
partof theContinenttotheother, (which fome of our brethren 
here and in the country-towns already have been) and 
finally be deprived of our whole property, by the arbitrary^ 
determination of one biafTed, capricious, Judge of the 
Admiralty. 

9 1 h 1 y • The reftraining us from erecting flitting-mills 
for manufacturing our iron, the natural produce of this 
country, is an infringement of that right with which God 
and nature have inverted us, to make ufe of our (kill and 
induftry in procuring the neceflaries and conveniences of 
life. And we look upon the reftraint, laid upon the manu- 
facture and tranfportation of hats, to be altogether unrea- 
sonable and grievous. Although, by the charter, all havens, 
rivers, ports, waters, &c, are exprefsly granted the inhabi- 
tants of the province and their fucceflbrs, to their only 
proper ufe and behoof for ever, yet the Britifh parliament 
pafled an act, whereby they reftrain us from carrying our 
wool, the produce of our own farms, even over a ferry ; 
whereby the inhabitants have often been put to the 
expence of carrying a bag of wool near an hundred miles 
by land, when pa ffi ng over a river or water of one quarter 
of a mile, of which the province are the abfolute proprietors, 
would have prevented all that trouble. 

lothly. The act pafled in the laft feffion of the Britifh 
parliament, intituled, an aft far the letter frefervmg his 
Majejhfs Dock-Yards, Magazines, Ships, Ammunition, 
and Stores, is, as we apprehend, a violent infringement of 
our rights. By this act, any one of us may be taken from 
his family, and carried to any part of Great-Britain, ther& 

L 2 to 



148 

to be tried, whenever it fhall be pretended that he has been 
concerned in burning or otberwife destroying any boat or 
veffel, or any materials for building, &c. any naval or 
victualling ftore, &c. belonging to his Majefty. For by 
this act all perfons in the realm, or in any of the places 
thereto belonging (under which denomination we know 
the colonies are meant to be included) may be indicted or, 
tried either in any county or fhire within this realm, in 
like manner and form as if the offence had been committed 
in faid county, as his Majefty and his fucceflbrs may deem 
expedient. Thus we are not only deprived of our grand 
right to trial by our peers in the vicinity, but any perfon 
fufpected, or pretended to be fufpected, may be hurried to 
Great-Britain, to take his trial in any county the King or 
his fucceflbrs {hall pleafe to direct j where, innocent or 
guilty, he is in great danger of being, condemned ; and 
whether condemned or acquitted, he will probably be 
ruined by the expence attending the trial, and his long 
abfence from his family and bufinefs; and we have the 
ftrongeft reafon to apprehend that we mail foon experience 
the fatal effects of this act, as about the year 1769, the 
Britifh parliament pafled refolves for taking-up a number 
of perfons in the colonies and carrying them to Great- 
Britain for trial, pretending that they were authorifed fo to 
do, by a ftatute pafled in the reign of Henry the Eighth, in 
which they fay the colonies were included, although the 
act was pafled long before any colonies were fettled, or 
even in contemplation. 

nthly. As our anceftors came-over to this country that 
they might not only enjoy their civil but their religious 
rights, and particularly defired to be freed from the prelates, 
who in thofe times cruelly perfecuted all who differed in 
fentiment from the eftabliftied church ; we cannot fee, 
without concern, the various attempts which have been 

made, 



149 

Made, and are now making, to eftablim an American 
epifcopate. Our epifcopal brethren of the colonies do 
enjoy, and rightfully ought ever to enjoy, the free exercife 
of their religion ; but, as an American epifcopate is by no 
means efTential to that free exercife of their religion, we 
cannot help fearing that they who are fo warmly contend- 
ing for fuch an eftablifhment, have views altogether 
inconfiftent with the univerfaland peaceful enjoyment of 
our Chnftian privileges: and doing, or attempting to do, any 
thing which has even the remoteft tendency to endanger 
this enjoyment, is jnftly looked-upon as a great grievance, and 
alfo an infringement of our rights; which is not barely to 
exercife, but peaceably and fecurely to enjoy, that liberty 
with which CHRIST hath made us free. 

And we are further of opinion, that no power on earth 
can juftly give either temporal or fpi ritual jurifdicHon 
within this province, except the Great and General Courts 
We think therefore that every defign for eftablifhing the 
jurifdiction of a. Bifhop in this province, is a defign both 
againft our civil and religions rights : and we are well 
informed, that the more candid and judicious of our bre- 
thren of the Church of England, in this and the other 
colonies, both clergy and laiety, conceive of the eftablifh- 
ing an American epifcopate as being both unneceflary and 
unreasonable. 

I2thly. Another grievance under which we labour is, 
the frequent alteration of the bounds of the colonies by 
decifions before the King and Council, explanatory of former 
grants and charters. This not only fubje&s men to live 
under a conftitution to which they have not confented, 
which in itfelf is a great grievance ; but moreover, under 
colour that the right of foil is affected by fuch declarations, 
fome Governours, or Minifters, or both in conjunction, 
have pretended to grant, in confequence of a Mandamus, 

l 3 many 



150 

many thoufands of acres of vacant and appropriated lancil 
near a century pari, and rendered valuable by the labours 
of the prefent cultivators and their anceftors. There are 
very notable inftances of fettlers, who, having, firft, purchaf- 
ed the foil of the natives, have, at condderable expence* 
obtained confirmations of title from this province; and, on 
being transferred to the jurifdiction of the province of New- 
Hamp/hire, have been put to the trouble and coft of a new- 
grant, or confirmation, from thence ; and, after all this, there- 
has been a third declaration of the royal will, that they 
fhould thenceforth be confidered as pertaining to the pro- 
vince of New-York, The troubles, expences, and dangers, 
which hundreds have been put-to on fuch occafions, can- 
not here be recited ; but fo much may be faid, that they 
have been moft cruelly haraffed, and even threatened with 
a military force, to dragoon them into a compliance with the 
moft unreafonable demands. 



A Letter of Correfpondence to the other Towns. 

Boston, November 20, 1772. 

Gentlemen, 

We, the freeholders and other inhabitants of Bofton, in 
town-meeting duly affembted, according to law, appre- 
hending there is abundant reafon to be alarmed that the 
plan of Defpotifm, which the enemies of our invaluable 
rights have concerted, is rapidly haftening to a completion, 
can no longer conceal our impatience under a conftant, un- 
remitted, uniform, aim to inflave us, or confide in an ad- 
ministration which threatens us with certain and inevitable 

deftruction. 



151 

deftrucYion. But, when in addition to the repeated inroads 
tnade upon the rights and liberties of the colonifts, and of 
thofe in this province in particular, we reflect on the late 
extraordinary meafure in affixing ftipends, or falaries from 
the crown to the offices of the Judges of the fuperior Court 
of Judicature, making them not only intirely independent of 
the people, whofe lives and fortunes are fo much in their 
power, but abfolutely dependant on the crown, (which may 
hereafter be worn by a tyrant) both for their appointment, 
and fupport, we cannot but be extremely alarmed at the 
mifchievous tendency of this innovation ; which, in our 
opinion, is dire&ly contrary to the fpirit of the Britifh Con- 
futation, pregnant with innumerable evils, and hath a di- 
rect tendency to deprive us of every thing valuable as men, 
as chriftians, and as fubje&s, entitled, by the royal charter, 
to all the rights, liberties and privileges of native Britons. 
Such being the critical ftate of this province, we think it 
our duty on this truly diftrefling occaiion, to afk you, what 
can withftand the attacks of mere power ? what can preferve 
the liberties of the fubject, when the barriers of the confti- 
tutionare taken-away ? The town of Bofton, confulting on 
the matter above-mentioned, thought proper to make appli- 
cation to the Governour by a committee ; requeuing his ex- 
cellency to communicate fuch intelligence as he might have 
received, relative to the report of the Judges having their 
fupport independent of the grants of this province, a copy 
of which you have herewith in paper No. i. * To which 
we received as anfwer the paper No. a. f The town, on 
further deliberation, thought it advifeable to refer the mat- 
ter to the Great and General Aflembly ; and accordingly in a 
fecond addrefs, as No. 3. f they requefted his Excellency 

* See Appendix, No. l. f See Appendix, No. 2. 

% See Appendix, No. 8. 

l 4 that 



152 



that the general court might convene at the time to Which 
they then ftood prorogued ; to which the town received the 
Teply as in No. 4. § in which we are acquainted with his in- 
tentions further to prorogue the General Affembly, which has 
fince taken place. Thus, gentlemen, it is evident his Excel- 
lency declines giving the lead fatisfaction as to the matter 
in requeft. The affair being of public concernment, the 
town of Bo/ion thought it neceflary to confult with their 
brethren throughout the province; and for this purpofe ap-» 
pointed a committee, to communicate with our fellow-fuf- 
ferers, refpectmg this recent inftance of oppreflion, as well 
as the many other violations of our rights under which we 
have groaned for feveral years paft — This committee have 
briefly recapitulated the fenfe we have of our invaluable 
rights as men, as chriftians, and as fubjects ; and wherein 
we conceive thofe rights to have been violated, which we 
are defirous may be laid before your town, that the fubject 
may be weighed as its importance requires, and the col- 
lected wifuom of the whole people, as far as poflible, be 
obtained, on a deliberation of fuch great and lafting mo- 
ment as to involve in it the fate of all our pofterity. — Great 
pains has been taken toperfuade the Britifh Adminiflration 
to think, that the good people of this province in general 
are quiet and undifturbed at the late meafures ; and that 
any uneafinefs that appears, arifes only from a few factious, 
defigning, and difafTected, men. This renders it the more 
neceflary, that the fenfe of the people mould be explicitly 
declared. — A free communication of your fentiments to 
this town, of our common danger, is earneftly follicited 
and will be gratefully received. If you concur with us in 
opinion, that our rights are properly ftated, and that the 
feveral acts of Parliament, and Meafures of Adminiflration, 

% See Appendix, No. 4. 

pointed 



153 

pointed out by us, are fubverfive of thefe rights, you wll! 
doubtlefs think it of the utmoft importance that we ftand 
firm as one man, to recover and fupport them; and to take 
fuch meafures, by directing our reprefentatives_, or otherwife, 
as your wifdom and fortitude mall dictate, to refcue from 
impending ruin our happy and glorious Conftitution. But 
if it mould be the general voice of this province that the 
rights, as we have ftated them, do not belong to us; or, 
that the feveral meafures of administration in the Britifh 
Court, are no violations of thefe rights ; or, that, if they are 
thus violated or infringed, they are not worth contending- 

for, or refolutely maintaining ; mould this be the 

general voice of the province, we muft be refigned to our 
wretched fate; but (hall for ever lament the extinction of 
that generous ardour for civil and religious liberty, which, in 
the face of every danger, and even death itfelf, induced our 
fathers to forfake the bofom of their Native Country, and 
begin a fettlement on bare creation. — But we trull this 
cannot be the cafe ; We are fure your wifdom, your regard 
to yourfelves and the riflng generation, cannot fufTer you 
to doze, or fit fupinely indifferent, on the brink of deftruc- 
tion, while the iron hand of oppreffion is daily tearing the 
choicer!: fruit from the fair tree of liberty, planted by our 
worthy predeceflors, at the expence of their treafure, and 
abundantly watered with their blood. — It is an observation 
of an eminent patriot, that a people long inured to hard- 
fhips, lofe by degrees the very notions of liberty; they look 
upon themfelves, as creatures at mercy, and that all impo- 
fitions, laid-on by fuperior hands, are legal and obliga- 
tory. — But, thank Heaven, this is not yet verified in Ame- 
rica ! We have yet fome fhare of public virtue remaining : 
We are not afraid of poverty, but difdain flavery. — The fate 
of nations is fo precarious, and revolutions in nates fo of r 
ten take place at an unexpected moment, when the hand 

of 



154 

of power, by fraud or flattery, has fecured every avenue of 
retreat, and the minds of the fubject debafed to its purpofe^ 
that it becomes every well-wifher to his country, while it 
has any remains of freedom, to keep an eagle-eye upon eve- 
ry innovation and ftretch of power, in thofe that have the 
rule over us. A recent inftance of this we have in the late 
revolutions in Sweden', by which the prince, once fubject 
to the laws of the ftate, has been able of a fudden, to de- 
clare himfelf an abfolute monarch. The Swedes were once 
a free, martial and valiant people: Their minds are now 
fo debafed, that they even rejoice at being fubje£t to the 
caprice and arbitrary power of a tyrant, and kifs their 
chains. It makes us fhudder to think, the late meafures of 
adminiftration may be productive of the like cataftrophe ; 

which Heaven forbid! Let us confider, Brethren, we 

are ftruggling for our heft birth-rights and inheritance ; 
which, being infringed, render all our blefiings precarious 
in their enjoyment, and consequently trifling in their va- 
lue. Let us difappoint the men, who are raiting themfelves 
on the ruin of this country. Let us covince every invader 
of our freedom, that we will be as free as the conftitution 
our fathers recognized, will juftify. 

The foregoing Report was twice read distinctly, and amended in 
the meeting. And then the question was put, Whether the same 
he accepted} And passed in the affirmative, Nem. Con. 

A true Cop7/ f 
Attest. 

WILLIAM COOPER, Town-Clerk. 

Upon a motion made, Voted, that the foregoing proceed- 
ings be attefted by the Town -Clerk, and printed in a 
pamphlet ; and that the committee be defired to difpofe of 
Six Hundred Copies thereof to the Selectmen of the towns 

in 



155 

in the province, and fuch other gentlemen as they fhall 
think fit. 

Voted, that the Town-Clerk be directed to fign the forego- 
ing Letter, and forward as many of the fame to the Select- 
men of each town in this province, as the committee (hall 
judge proper, and direct. 

A true Copy, 
Attejt, 

William Cooper, Town-CIer*. 



APPENDIX, 



156 

APPENDIX; 

(No. I.) 

TheMESSAGEof the Town of Boston to the GoVERNoiriu 

May it pleafe your Excellency, 
iHE freeholders and other inhabitants of the town of 
Bcflon, legally aflembled in Faneuil-Hall, beg leave to ac- 
quaint your Excellency, that a report has prevailed, which 
they have realon to apprehend is well-grounded, that fti« 
pends are affixed to the offices of the Judges of the fuperior 
Court of Judicature, &c. of this province, whereby they are 
become independent of the grants of the General Affembly 
for their fupport ; contrary to ancient and invariable ufage. 
This report has fpread an alarm among all confiderate per- 
fons who have heard of it in town and country ; being 
viewed, as tending rapidly to complete the fyftem of their 
flaverv; which originated in the Honfe of Commons of 
Great-Britain, affuming a power and authority, to give and 
grant the monies of the colonifts without their confent, and 
againft their repeated remonftrances. And, as the judges 
hold their places during pleafure, this eftablifhmeht appears 
big with fatal evils, fo obvious that it is needlefs to trefpafs 
on your Excellency's time in mentioning them. 

It is therefore the humble and earneftrequefl: of the town, 
that your Excel'ency would be pleafed to inform them, 
Whether you have received any fuch advice, relating to a 
matter fo deeply interesting to the inhabitants of this pro- 
vince, which gives you aflurance that fuch an eftablish- 
ment has been, or is likely, to be made. 

( No. II.) 
TheGoyERNOUR's Answer to the foregoing Message. 

Gentlemen, 
It is by no means proper for me to lay before the inhabit- 
ants of any town whaifoever, in ccnfequence of their votes 

and 



m 

and proceedings in a Town-Meeting, any part of my cam 
refpondence as Governour of the Province, or to acquaint 
them whether I have, or have not, received any advices re- 
lating to the public affairs of the Government. This rea- 
fon alone, if your ad .Irefs to me had been in other refpects 
unexceptionable, would have been fufficient to reftrain me 
from complying with your defire. 

I (hall always be reafy to gratify the inhabitants of the 
town of Bofton, upon every regular application to me on 
bufinefs of public concernment to the town, as far as I fhall 
have it in my power confident with fidelity to the truft 
which his Majefty has repofed in me. 

T. HUTCHINSON. 

Province-Houfe, 30 Oct. 1772. 
To the inhabitants of the town 

of Bofton in Town-Meeting 

affembled at Faneuil-Hall. 

( No. III. ) 
The Petition of the Town to the Governour. 
The Petition of the Freeholders and other inhabitants of 
the town of Bofton, legally affembled by adjournment in 
Faneuil-Hall, on Friday October 30, 1772, 
Humbly sheweth, 
That your petitioners are JIM greatly alarmed at the re- 
port which has been prevalent of late, viz. That ftipends 
are affixed to the offices of the Judges of the fuperior Court 
of Judicature cf tfiis Province, by order of the Crown, for 
their fupport. 

Such an eftablifliment is contrary, not only to the plain 
and obvious fenfe of the charier of this province, but alfo 
to fome of the fundamental principles of the common law ; 
to the benefit of which, all BritiOi fubje&s, wherever dif- 
perfed throughout the Britifli Empire are indubitably infi- 
xed. 

Su»k 



158 

Such a jealoufy have the fubje&s of England for their 
rights, liberties and privileges, and fo tender a regard has 
been fhown to them by his Majefty, that notwithstanding 
the provifion made at the revolution, that the judges of the 
King's fuperior courts of law there, mould hold their com- 
mimons, not at pleafure, but during good behaviour, and 
fince that time for their fupport, his Majefty among other 
the firft acts of his reign, was graciouily pleafcd to recom- 
mend it to Parliament, and an a£t paffed, that their com- 
mimons mould notceafe at the ciemife of the King; where- 
by every thing pcffible in human wifdom feems to have 
been done, to eftablim an impartiality in their decifions, 
not only between fubje6t and fubjecl:, but between the 
crown and the fubjeel. — —Of how much greater import- 
ance mull: it be to preferve from the leaft fuppofeable bia?,-, 
the Judges of a Court inverted by the laws of this province, 
(which have been approved-of by Majefly,) with powers as 
full and ample to all intents and purpofes whatsoever, as 
the courts of King's Beneb, Common Pleas and Exchequer, 
within his Majefty's kingdom of England, have, or ought to 
have ? 

Your Excellency will allow your petitioners, with due 
fubmiifion, to repeat, that this Eftablimment appears to them 
pregnant with fuch fatal evils, as that the mo ft diftant 
thought of its taking effecT:, fills their minds with Dread and 
Horror. 

Thefe, Sir, are the fentiments and apprehenfions of this 
metropolis: exprefled, however, with due deference to the 
fentiments of the province, with which your Petitioners are 
anxioufly folicitous of being made acquainted. 

It is therefore their earneft and humble rcqueft, that your 
Excellency would be pleafed to allow the General AfTembly 
to meet at the time to which it now Hands prorogued ; in 
order that in that Conftiiutional body, with whom it is to 

inquire 



159 

inquire into Grievances and redrefs them, the joint wifdom 
of the province may be employed, in deliberating and de- 
termining on a matter fo important and alarming. 



(No. IV.) 
The Governour's Answer to the foregoing Petition. 

Gentlemen, 

The royal charter referves to the Governour full power 
and authority, from time to time, as he fhall judge necef- 
fary,to adjourn, prorogue, and diflblve the General Aflem- 
bly. 

In the exercife of this power, both as to time and place, 
I have always been governed by a regard to his Majefty's 
fervice and to the intereft of the province. 

It did not appear to me neceflary for thofe purpofes that 
the Affembly fhould meet at the time to which it now ftands 
prorogued ; and, before I was informed of your addrefs, I 
had determined to prorogue it for a further time. 

The reafons which you have advanced have not altered 
my opinion. 

If, notwithstanding, in compliance with your petition, I 
fhould alter my determination and meet the Aflembly, con- 
trary to my own judgement, at fuch time as you judge ne- 
ceflary, I mould, in effect, yield to you the exercife of that 
part of the prerogative, and mould be unable to juftify my 
conduct to the King. 

There would, moreover, be danger of encouraging the 
inhabitants of the other towns in the province to aflfemble, 
from time to time, in order to confider of the neceflity or 
expediency of a fcflion of the General Afiembly, or to de- 
bate and tranfact other matters which the law that autho- 
rizes 



160 



rizes towns to atTemble does not make the bufinefs of a town- 
meeting. 

T. HUTCHINSON, 

Province-Houfe, Nov. 2, 1772. 
To the inhabitants cf the town 

or Bofton in Town- Meeting 

alTembled at Faneuil-Hail. 

This reply having been read Faveral times and duly confi-. 
dered ; it was moved, and the queftion accordingly put — 
Whether the fame be fatisfe&ory to the town, which paf- 
fed in the Negative, Nem. Con. 

And thereupon RESOLVED, as the opinion of the inha- 
bitants of this town, that they have, ever had, and ought 
to have, a right to petition the King or his reprefentative 
for the redrefs of fuch grievances as they feel, or for prevent- 
ing of fuch as they have reafon to apprehend ; and to com- 
municate their fentiments to other Towns. 

Attejt, 

William Cooper, Town- Clerk.* 



*I have here reprinted this Account of the Proceedings of the Town-; 
Meeting of Boston, because it appears to me to contain the fullest 
and most able statement of the grievances and the claims of the B; i- 
tish Colonies in North-America, before the unhappy war which end- 
ed in the separation- of them from the Mother-Country, that I have- 
ever seen. As to the arguments that were used for and against those 
claims in the years immediately preceeding that war, by the writers 
on both sides of the question, the reader may see them fully and fairly 
stated and examined in the first volume of the Canadian Freeholder. 
And a true history of the passing of the stamp-act in March, 1769, 
during the ministry of Mr. George Grenville, and of the repeal of it 
in the following spring of 1760, in the ministry of the Marquis of 
Rockingham, Mr. Dowdeswell, and General Conway, with a full and 
clear exhibition of the strong reasons of prudence antl equity upon 
which that repeal was grounded, may be seen in the printed copy of 
an excellent speech of the late Mr. Rdinund Burke, delivered in the 
House of Commons on the 19th of April, 1774, which has been lately 
republished with his other work*. It is a master-piece of truth and 
eloquence. F. M. 



161 



AN ACCOUNT 

OF THE 

NOBLESSE, OR GENTRY, IN CANADA, 

IJSt THE YEAR 1775. 



THERE are only twenty- two names of noble families in 
all Canada ; therefore, if we allow five perfons to a name, 
there are about one hundred noble perfons in Canada, men, 
women, and children. 

This NobleJJe has nothing to do with the landed property 
of the country in confequence of their nobility. Some of 
them, indeed, have feigniories j but others of them are ex- 
ceeding poor, not having ico/. fterling, lome not 30/. a- 
year, to maintain themfelves and their families, either in 
laixl or other property. 

Thofe of them who are tolerably rich, live in the towns of 
Quebeck and Montreal all the year, except, perhaps, a 
month, or lefs, when they vifit their feigniories to collect 
their rents and dues. They were ufed to pay court to the 
Governour and Intendant, and other officers of the Crown, 
in the time of the French Government, and never to try to 
make an intereft with the people. And, accordingly, they 
have very little intereft with the people, by whom they are 
rather hated, (and formerly were feared,) than loved orre- 
fpe&ed. 

The nobles hitherto fpoken-of are the hereditary nobility. 
There were in old France, in the year 1740, no lefs than fifty 
thoufand of thofe noble families, according to the account 
given of them by that moft faithful of all French writers of 
hiftory, the Abbe de Saint Pierre, in hhPolitical Annals. It is 
eafy to fee that many of thefe noble perfons muft be totally 

M without 



162 

without property. This nobilitv defcends to all the mala 
pofterity of the perfons ennobled, from generation to genera- 
tion, ad infinitum, to younger fons of younger fons of younger 
fons. This caufes the number of thefe noble perfons to be 
fo enormoufly great. 

Perfons become noble in this complete, or hereditary, 
manner, either by letters patent of the King of France, 
creating them fo, though without a title, (for a title is not 
necefTary to make a man noble.) or by exerciling certain 
honourable offices in the ftate. For example, the family of 
every member of a parliament in France, or of any other 
sovereign court of jultice, (that is, court of juftice to which 
appeals lie fr\>m inferiour courts, and from which no appeals 
lie to any higher court, except to the King himfelf in his 
council of ftate,) who dies in his office, or who holds it 
for twenty years, and then refigns it, is thereby ennobled. 
So is the family of every General Officer of the army who 
dies in his employment, or holds it for a certain number 
of years. So is the family of a Captain in the army who has 
ferved ten years in it, and whofe father and grand-father have 
alfo ferved, each of them, ten years in it in the fame rank. 

Betides this hereditary nobility, there are many nobles 
for life. A Captain in the army who has ferved in that 
commiffion, (or, I believe, in that commiffion together with 
the inferiour commiffions of Enfign and Lieutenant,) for 
the fpace of twenty years, is thereby ennobled for his life, 
though his father was not an officer, nor noble in any 
degree. 

Of this latter fort of nobles there are feveral in Canada. 
General Carleton, in a letter to Lord Shelburne in the year 
1767, reckons-up about one hundred and twenty perfons, 
who had commands either in the French army or the militia 
of Canada, or civil employments, or grants from the French 
King of exclufive rights to trade with the Indians in particular 

trading 



163 

trading-posts, or Tome other advantages under the French 
government, which they had loft by the change of govern- 
ment. But this lofs did not follow from their being Roman- 
-catholicks; for, if they had been proteftants, they muft have 
loft thefe advantages equally, as moft of the places they held 
have no exiftence under the Englifh government, and the few 
places, or offices, that continue under the new government, 
are fuch as they are not perfonally qualified to difcharge, 
though they mould be proteftants, fuch as the offices of 
judges, collector and comptroller of the cuftoms, receiver- 
general of the revenue, &c. 

. Thefe people, therefore, cannot be gratified by only tak- 
ing-away the difabilities arifing from their being Roman- 
catholicks, nor without creating new places, or employ- 
ments, civil and military, to beftow upon them ; which 
would be not only unreafonably expenfive to Great -Britain, 
but alfo dangerous *, and all their complaints againft the 
Engiifli laws, on account of the difabilities they impofe on 
Roman-catholicks, are at the bottom only begging letters. 
Among thefe one hundred and twenty difcontented perfons, 
there are fome who are of noble families, fo as to tranfmit the 
nobility to their children; but the greater partof them are only 
noble for life by their employments, and fome of them not 
noble at all, either becaufe they have not held their employ- 
ments long enough to make them fo, or becaufe their em- 
ployments were not of fuch a nature as to confer nobility, 
of any kind, on the perfons who held them. Yet thefe 
one hundred and twenty perfons are the principal perfons 
who have complained of the Engiifli laws, and been the 
caufe of the late act of parliament*. The reft of the one 



* This act was passed on the 10th of June, 1774, and is entitled 
" An Act for making more effectual Provision for the Government of 
the Province of2uc6cc in North. America.'" 

m 7, hundred 



164 

hundred and twenty thoufand, or, according to General 
Carleton's eftimation of them, one hundred and fifty thou- 
fand, inhabitants of Canada, were very well pleafed with the 
change of government, and have often acknowledged that 
they were happier under the Engliih government than they 
had ever been before. 

In France it is a privilege of the nobility to be exempted 
irom paying a certain land-tax, which is called the taille 
fersonnelle : but there was no fuch tax in Canada under the 
French government. 

It is another privilege of the nobles, that they alone can 
enjoy the rights of Judicature, (les droits de haute, moyenne, 
ei hajft, jufiice.J which may have been annexed, by the 
French king's grants, to any feigniories, or large tracls of 
land, held of trie crown by the tenure of doing fealty and 
homage, (foi et hommage,) of which they may happen to 
be poffeffed. If a man that was not noble purchafed one of 
thefe feigniories, he might enjoy all the pecuniary rights be- 
longing to it, fuch as the mill-toils due from the freehold te- 
nants, and the fines for alienation ; but he could not, without 
the French king's licence, exercife the rights of judicature 
belonging to it. However, this was a matter of fmall confe- 
quence with refpecl: to Canada, becaufe, in that country, 
fcarce any of the owners of feigniories exercifed thefe rights 
of judicature in the time of the French government, though 
they were ufually mentioned in the grants of their feigniories. 
But the expenfe attending the exercife of thefe rights of judicar 
ture, (fuch as keeping a p v ifon, with a fteward, or judge of the 
court, a feigniorial, or fifcal, attorney, and a regifter of the 
court,) was too great for them. And further, their right of 
holding thefe courts was fo checked and controuled by the 
king ot France's edicls, and the provincial regulations upon 
that fubje6t, that it would have been but a fort of ornamen- 
tal 



163 

tal nght, or feather in the cap, of thofe who fhould have 
held them, rather than a real and fubftantial degree of power 
in them. I believe there was not one fingle lay feignior 
in all Canada before the late conqueft, that exercifed thefe 
rights of judicature ; but certainly, if there were any, they 
were exceeding few : and none of them have been exercifed 
fince the coiiqueft. 

The French owners of feigriiories fometimes talk of the 
hardfliip of not being permitted to exercife their feigniorial 
jurifdiclions under the Englifh government. There may, 
perhaps, be fome little injuftice in it, becaufe it is a fort o£ 
appendage to their landed property, which has been granted 
to them without referve by the capitulation and the treaty of 
peace ; yet this is doubtful. But it is certain there is no 
hardfbip in it at all ; for, if they could exercife them, they 
would not do fo, for the reafons above-mentioned. Their 
view in making thefe complaints is to induce the Govern- 
ment to buy thefe jurifdi&ions up, as they have heard the 
parliament did in the year 1747, with refpecl to the Scotch, 
heritable jurifdiclions. But thefe complaints come with 
an ill grace from fuch of the French feigniors as are not 
noble, (which is the cafe with many of them,) lince they 
had no right to exercife thefe jurifdiclions under the French 
government. 

Many of the nobles have no feigniories at all, nor any 
other landed property. There are fcarce any people in Ca- 
nada that have patrimonial fortunes to any confiderable 
amount. Thefew rich men amongft the French there have ac- 
quired their own fortunes in the fervice of the king of France, 
that is,moft probably, by cheating the king and oppreiling the 
people: for the pay of the French military officers is but 
about a third part of the pay of our officers, and the pay of 
;heir judges and other civil officers is low in proportion; fo 

m 3 that 



166 

that it is hardly poflible for them to live upon their lawful 
ialaries, much let's to fave fortunes out of them : and there- 
fore, whenever perfons in tbofe fituations grow rich, one may 
pretty fafely conclude that they have been great rogues, and 
have either cheated the king, or opprefled the people, to a 
great degree. 

Many of the nobles of Canada retired to- Old France after 
the peace ; almoft all that could afford it conveniently : and 
it would have been happy for the province if the reft had 
followed them. This is not only the opinion of many 
Englimmen, who are acquainted with the province of Que- 
beck, but alfo that of the Abbe Raynal, in his account of 
the European fettlements in the Earl and Weft Indies. His 
words are thefe, in fpeakingof the fuccefs of the Britifh arms 
in the late war. ££ Uacquijition d 9 un territoire immenfe 
i( rCeji pas tcutesfois la plus grand fruit que la Grande 
ci Breiagne doit retirer de la profpJrile de fes armes. La po- 
iC filiation covjiderable qui ell ey a trouvce eft un advantage 
i; blen plus import a?it. A la verite quclques uns de ces 
" nombreux habitants ont fui uue domination nouvelle qui 
" n 9 admetioit entre les liommes d 9 autre difference que cells 
4f des qualites perfon7ielles y de V education, de V ' aisance, d& 
(i la faculty d'etre utile a la fbciete, Mais V emigration 
" de ces etres msprifalces dont Vimportance n 9 avoit pour bast 
" que les coutumes barb ares, at-elle du ttre regardee comms 
t{ une calamity? La colonic 71 auroit-elle pas beaucoup- 
^ g a g ne <* * tre debarrajjie de touts ces nobles oififs qui la 
(( Jurchargcoient depuisji long temps, de ces nobles orgueilleux 
" quiy entretenoient le mepris de touts les travaux P 9> 

There are in Canada a few knights of the order of St, 
Lewis. Thefe are officers who ferved in the French army in 
the late war, and who obtained this knight-hood as a reward 
either cf their valour on fome fignal occafion, or of their 

long 



long fervice, (twenty years' fervice being reckoned Fufrlcient 
to give a man a fort of right to this order,) or perhaps by 
mere favour. Thefe people are, for the moil part, very 
poor and very proud. r l heir honour is not hereditary : and 
there are not many of them in the province; I believe, not 
more than a dozen* 



M 4 T* 



16fl 



7o the Printer of the Public Advertised, 



SIR, Feb. 25, 1790, 

HEREWITH I fend von a tranflation of a lono; note in 
the account lately pnblifhed by the Count of Lally Tolen- 
dahl, a very eminent Member of the National AfTembly 
of France, of his conduct in that capacity, and of his reafons 
for refigning his feat in that affembly in October kft, when 
the King of France was forcibly taken from Verfailles by the 
democratic party now prevailing in France, and was carried 
to Paris. This gentleman was a deputy of the nobility of the 
diftrictof Dourdans, and feemsto be a very imccre. lover of 
his country, and of a moderate and well-regulated fyftem of 
liberty, as wellastobeaman of greatabilities, and veryexten- 
five information on political fubjecls. His work is exceed- 
ingly curious, and very worthy of the periifal of every perfon 
whohas any defire of being-informed of the proceedingsof the 
French National Affemblv: and it feems tome to prove, that 
the account given of the late proceedings in France by Mr. 
Burke, in the Houfe of Commons, a few days* ago, is agree- 
able to the truth ; a highly democratical fpirit does prevail 
there, and the Members of the National Affembly are over- 
awed by it, and dare not act in oppoution to it ; and too 
many acts of a bloody, ferocious, and tyrannical nature, have 
been committed by the common people again ft the Nobility, 
or rather, Gentry, of the country., in many different pro- 
vinces of the kingdom. Some of the mod remarkable of 
thefe acts are fpecifled in the note of which T herewith fend 
you a tranfiation, the infertion of which, in your ufeful 

* On the 9lh of February, 1790. 

pape:*, 



169 

paper, may not only fcrve as a vindication of Mr. Burke's 

affertion, but will convey fome important and entertaining 

information on this interesting fubje& to your numerous 

readers. 

I am, Sir, 

Your humble fervant, 

VERUS. 

F. M. 

Tranjlation of a Note in the Letter, of the Count o/Lally 
Tolendahl, a late Reprefenlative of the Nobility in the 
French National Assembly, to his Constituents in 
the Bailiwick of Dourdans, giving an Account of his 
Conduct in the f aid National Aflembly, and the Reafons 
that induced him to refign his Seat in it, in the Month of 
Oclober, iJSg. 

The Count of Mirabeau, at that time, threw-out a cen- 
fure upon me for having reprefented, (as he expreffed it) " a 
few irregular and unfortunate proceedings that had lately 
happened" as being great and horrible calamities, and" a few 
ftefs that had been taken as neceffary precautions in the then 
unfettled jiate of our country, from a want of confidence 
in the intentions of the Court," as being acls of inhuman 
ferocity. 

This accufation, it behoves me to refute ; and I, therefore, 
appeal to any impartial perfons to be informed, whether, in 
their opinion, " the deftroying of houfes, and laying- wafte of 
lands, and the murdering innocent and helplefs perfons in 
many parts of the kingdom,without the fmalleft provocation : 
— as, for inftance, the deft ruction, burning, or plundering of 
no fewer than thirty-fix gentlemen's feats, (of which I had 
a lift in my hand at the time I ufed the words objected to 
me) in only a tingle province of the kingdom/' might not 

juftly 



KG 

juftly be considered as public and dreadful calamities , in- 
ftead of being treated as trifling and excufable irregularities^ 
as Monfieur de Mirabeau is pleafed to call therm 

And, as to the other a£ts of violence which Monfieur de 
Mirabeau ehoofes to confider asnece/fary or prudential mea- 
fures, arifng from a want of confidence in the intentions of 
the Court ; thefe, alio, I prefume, ought rather to be called 
by the name that I have given them, of atls of inhuman 
ferocity , or I know not what can ever deferve to be fo en- 
titled. Some of thcfe acls are as follows $ to wit, in the 
firft place, in the Province of Languedoc, Monfieur de Bar- 
ras was cut to pieces by the mob in the prefence of his wife, 
who was big with child, and ready to lie-in, and who died 
afterwards of the (hock it gave her : — 2dly, In the city of 
Mans, Monf de Monteffon was {hot to death, after having 
been a fpe&ator of the cutting of his father-in-law's throat : 
— Sdly, In Normandy, a poor, helplefs, old man, who was a 
cripple with the palfy, was put upon a pile of faggots, which 
were fet on fire under him, and was afterwards left by his 
tormentors in that condition, and then removed from it by 
his friends, after his hands had been burnt-ofT: — and, 4thly* 
in the fame province of Normandy, a nobleman's land- 
fteward had his feet burnt by the people, in order to force 
him to deliver-up his matter's title-deeds ; — and, 5thly, in 
the fame province, the unhappy Monsieur de Balzunce, (who 
had, with a generous and noble confidence, put himself 
into the hands of the people who came to attack him, in- 
ftcad of endeavouring to efcape from them,) was neverthe- 
less put to death by them with fo much eagernefs and m> 
patience, that, in (hooting at him in oppofite directions at 
the fame time, his murderers killed fome of themfelves : — • 
and, 6thly, in the province of Franche-Comte 9 Madame de 
Battilly was compelled by threats of inftant death, and with 
a hatchet held over her head, to give-up her title-deeds, and 

even 



171 

even her land: — and, 7tbly, in the fame province, Madameie 
Li/ienay was forced to make the fame furrender of her pro- 
perty, with a halter round her neck, and her two daughters 
lying near her in a Hate of infenfibility, having fainted- 
away with terror at the fight : — and, 8thly, the very refpedt- 
able Marquis of Ormenan, an old gentleman, trembling 
with the palfy, was forced to fly from his country-feat in 
the middle of the night, to avoid being murdered by the 
mob, and was afterwards purfued by them from town to 
town, till he got out of the province, and arrived at Bafle, 
in Switzerland, almoft dead with fatigue and terror, with 
his daughters, who had accompanied him, and reduced to 
a Mate of defpair: — and, cjthly, the Count of Montefu and his 
wife, were kept by the mob in a date of continual terror, 
with piftols held to their breafts, for three hours together, 
(during which time they defired the people, as a favour, to 
put them to death without delay,) and were at laft dragged 
out of their carriage in order to be thrown into a pond and 
drowned, when they were faved by the interpofition of a 
regiment of fokliers, who happened to come-by at that in- 
fant: — and, iothly, the Baron of Mont Juflin was taken 
by a mob, and kept in a date of continual terror under the 
apprehenfion of inftant death, for the fpace of an hour and 
a half, by being held on the top of a well, while they delibe- 
rated, in his hearing, whether they mould put him to death 
by letting him drop into the well, (where he would have 
beendrowned,) or mould deftroyhim in fomeother manner: — 
and, nthly, Count hall emand and the Duchefs of To?i- 
nerre were treated with great cruelty; and the Chevalier 
d'Ambli w'as taken by force from his country-houfe, and 
barbaroufly dragged, naked, along the village that belonged 
to him, and then thrown upon a dunghill, after having 
had his eye-brows, and the hair of his head, plucked-out 
by the roots, while the people who were fpectators of this 

crueltv* 



172 

cruelty, amufed themielves with dancing round him ; bo- 
lides a number of the like cruel outrages, committed in the 
provinces of Alface and Dauphiny, and the city of Troyes in 
Champagne, and alfo in the neighbourhood of Paris, almoft 
within fight of the National Affembly. This is a fhort ac- 
count of the actions which the Count de Mirabeau has 
called neceffary precautions, arijing from a want of confi- 
dence, and which he cenfures me for having unjuftly mif- 
reprefented as ails of inhuman ferocity, I leave the reader 
to determine which of us has denoted them by the more 
proper appellation. 

And, upon this occafion, I cannot forbear aiking thofe 
gentlemen who talk of the want of confidence in the inten- 
tions of the Court, and the Nobility, as having been the 
motive that urged the people to commit thefe acts of vio- 
lence, as prudential meafures neceffary to their own fafety ; 
— I fay, I mult, afk thefe gentlemen, who it was that infpired 
the people with this want of confidence, and thereby be- 
came the fir ft authors of the mifchiefs it occafioned ? 
Who was it that encouraged the people to rife in a feditious 
manner, both in the open countries, and great towns of the 
kingdom ?-— Who was it that wrote letters to the people at 
Vefoul, to inform them that the reprefentatives of the No- 
bility^ who had been fent to the National Affembly, had 
formed a plot to blow-up with gunpowder the. great room 
in which the Affembly met, at a time when only the repre- 
fentatives of the Third Eftate, or Commonalty, were affem- 
bled in it ? — -Who was it that perfuaded the peafantry of 
the province of Francbe-Comte, that the Nobility were 
the King's enemies ? Who was it that forged thofe pretend- 
ed orders from the Kins; to authorize and encourage the com- 
mon people to fall upon the Nobility, or Gentry, where- 
ever they met them, and to demolifh and lay-wade their 
houfes and poffeffions ? Why was that moft diabolical lie 

which 



173 

which was fpread-about againft Monf. de Me/may', u of 
his having eaufed a great number of the common people to 
be invited into a room in his houfe, that had been under- 
mined with gunpowder, in order that they {hould then be all 
blown-up at once;" and which for a conflderable time excited 
againft him, in the minds of all the world, the indignation and 
horror that fuch an action ought to produce ; I fay, why 
was this mod abominable calumny, when it was discovered 
to be but a calumny, fuffered by the National Affembly to 
die-away in filence and neglect ; inftead of being lifted to 
the bottom, in order to find-out and punifh the villains who 
had invented it, againft whom all the indignation, that had 
before been felt againft Monf. de Mejrnay, ought then to 
have been directed ? And have I not reafon to complain, 
that, when I have expreffed, in the National Affembly, the 
indignation and horror with which both the commiftion of 
fo many horrid crimes, and the impunity that attended 
them, had filled me, my fentiments {hould be confidered, 
at fome times, as a mark of a weak and effeminate fpirit, 
and, at others, as an indication of luke-warmness in the 
caufe of Liberty ? — They little know the temper of my mind 
who put thefe interpretations on my conduct. No man is 
more inflamed with zeal for that nobleft of all caufes in 
which men of fpirit can be engaged, than I am : No man 
can more admire the heroic conduct of the Englifh North- 
Americans, in their late refiftance to the endeavours of 
Great-Britain to enflave them, or that of the Dutch, of the 
century before laft, when they freed themfelves from the ty- 
ranny of the King of Spain, than I do : No man can more 
fympathize with both thofe nations in the various events of 
thofetwonoble druggies forLiberty, nor more fineerely rejoice 
at the final happy fuccefs of them. But to fee downright 
robberies juftified by quibbling pretenders to reafon ! to fee 
the poor peafants excited to go-about and burn honeft men's 

hoiifts, 



174 

houfes, by a fet of rogues, that forge pretended orders 
from their Sovereign for fo doing ! to fee affaffinations of 
the Nobility encouraged by declaiming orators, that fet- up 
for the patrons of Liberty ! and this, when the Nobility made 
no oppofition to the meafures which the publick welfare 
made neceffary ; — when they confented to every propofal ; — 
when it was not in their power to oppofe any thing ; — 
when a considerable part of them had zealoufly embraced 
the interefts and defigns of the commonalty, and all of them 
had agreed to give-up their exemption from taxes, and 
other pecuniary, or profitable, privileges, and would have 
been contented with retaining only their honorary distinc- 
tions ! — To fee fuch things done and encouraged, and not to 
be mocked and difgufied, and difpirited, at the fight, is, I 
confefs, above my pitch of firmnefs, and, as I fuppofe, 
above that of any other man, who is not totally diverted of 
every fentiment of juftice and humanity. 

E?id of the Translation of the Note, in Count Lally's Letter. 



It is much to be lamented that, after thefe atrocious ac- 
tions had been committed in France and were well known in 
England, that eminent member of the Englifh Houfe of 
Commons, the late Mr. Charles James Fox, did not join 
with Mr. Burke, (his former great affociate in politicks.) in 
expreffimr a proper deteftation of them and of the wild and 
extravagant Revolution in the French Government to which 
they were intended to be fubfervient. If he, and all his 
numerous partizans, (who were in the habit of adopting 
his opinions upon political fubje&s,) had considered that 
dreadful event- in the true light in which it had been 
reprefented by Mr. Burke, as being, from the very begin- 
ning, 



175 

ning, a fyftem of Robbery and Murder directed againft the 
owners of Landed property in France, both of the Clergy 
and the Laity, which threatened to over-throw the mod 
powerful and beft-eftablifhed monarchy in Europe, and 
ultimately to deftroy every trace of the people's former 
Liberties and Privileges, and reduce them to a ftate of 
complete flavery under the abfolute and arbitrary rule of 
fome upftart Military Defpot (which is the ftate in which 
-we now behold them,) there is reafon to think that a 
declaration made by him and his friends, in their fpeeches 
in parliament, of fuch a difapprobation of the violent mea- 
fures of the firft National AfTembly of France and of the 
riotous mobs of Paris in fupport of them, would have 
checked them in their career of Injuftice and Folly, or, at 
leaft, would have prevented their falling into the miftaken 
opinion that the great body of the Engliih Nation were full 
of Admiration of the new and bold changes which they 
had made in their Government, and were wifhino- and 
preparing to imitate their noble example, by making 
fimilar changes in the Government of England. But, inftead 
of joining with Mr. Burke in this prudent and patriotick 
conduct Mr. Fox, long after the abominable outrages, 
defcribed above in Count Lally's note, were known in 
England, declared in the Houfe of Commons, " that 
he looked-upon the French Revolution as the high eft effort 
of human Wisdom^ for the promotion of human Happinefs 
that he had ever heard-of." And many other pcrfons in 
England feemed to entertain the fame opinion of it for more, 
than three years together, or till September, 1792 ; when the 
cruel maflacres of great numbers of inoffenfive priefls and 
laymen (who were confined in the prifons of Paris), perpe- 
trated with the knowledge and confent, or, rather, by the 
direction, of Danton/ihtn newly-appointed Minifter of Juf- 
tice, — and the numerous fubfequent, almoft daily, murders 

of 



176 

of innocent peiTons by the guillotine during what is called the 
reign of Terror, under the new republican Government, 
during the power of Robespierre^ — opened their eyes to the 
miferable confequences of th'ofe mad innovations, and taught 
them to know and to value the more certain and fober fort 
of Liberty which they themselves had conftantly enjoyed 
under the protection of the limited Monarchy of Eng- 
land. There were, however, feveral noblemen and gen- 
tlemen of rank and confequence, in both Houfes of Par- 
liament, who, (though they had acted in conjunction with 
Mr. Fox for fome years before the breaking-out of the 
difaftrous French Revolution,) thought fit to differ from 
him upon this great occafion, and to declare, even in 
the beginning of the French Revolution, that they agreed 
with Mr. Burke in his opinions upon this fubjecr.. Of 
thefe judicious and patriotick perfons, one of the moft 
eminent in the Houfe of Lords was the duke of Portland, 
and one of the moft diftinguimed in the Houfe of Com-* 
mons was Mr. William Windham, who has fince been 
one of the King's Secretaries of (late, It is, perhaps, owing 
to the efforts of thefe worthy perfons who adopted Mr. 
Burke's opinions upon this fubjefit, that England has not 
been thrown into confufion and mifery by a change of 
our happy form of Government into a Republick in imita~ 
lion of the French Revolution. 



ANECDOTES 



177 



AN ACCOUNT OF THE OPINIONS OF THE LATE ADAM 
SMITH, LL.D. AUTHOR OF "THE WEALTH OF NA- 
TIONS," CONCERNING THE WORKS OF SEVERAL ENG- 
LISH AUTHORS. 



To the Printer of the Whitehall Evening 

Post. 

SIR, 

IN the year 1780, I had frequent oecafion to be in com- 
pany with the late well-known Dr. Adam Smith. When 
bufinefs ended, our converfation took a Ifterary turn ; I was 
then young, inquifitive, and full of refpecl for his abilities 
as an author. On his part he was extremely communica- 
tive, and delivered himfelf, on every fubje£t, with a free- 
dom, and even boldnefs, quite oppofite to the apparent re~ 
ferve of his appearance. I took-down notes of his converfa- 
tion, and have here fent you an abftracl: of them. I have 
neither added, altered, nor diminifhed them, but merely put 
them into fuch a fhape as may fit them for the eye of your 
readers. 

Of the late Dr. Samuel Johnfon, Dr. Smith had a very 
contemptuous opinion. " I have feen that creature," faid 
he, Ci bolt-up in the midft of a mixed company ; and, with- 
out any previous notice, fall upon his knees behind a chair, 
repeat the Lord's Prayer, and then refume his feat at table. 
He has played this freak over and over, perhaps five or fix 
times, in the courfe of an evening; It is not hypocrify, but 
madnefs. Though an honeft fort of man himfelf, he is always 
patronifiug fcoundrels. Savage, for inftance, whom he fo 
loudly praifes, was but a worthlefs fellow 3 his penfion of fifty 

n pounds 



ns 

pounds a year never lafted him longer than a few clays. As a 
fample of his economy, you may take a circumftance, that 
Johnfoh himfelf once told me. It was, at that period, 
fafliionable to wear fcarlet cloaks trimmed with gold'lace ; 
and the Doctor met him one day, juft after he had got his 
penfion, with one of thefe cloaks upon his back, while, at 
the fame time, his naked toes were flicking through his 
fhoes." 

He was no admirer of the Rambler or the Idler, and hint- 
ed, that he had never been able to read them. He was averfe 
to theconteflwith America; yet he fpoke highly of Johnfon's 
political pamphlets : but, above all, he was charmed with 
that refpecting' Falkland's Illands, as it difplayed, in fuch 
forcible language, the niadnefs of modern wars. 

I enquired his opinion of the late Dr. Campbell, author 
of the Political Survey of Great Britain. He told me, that 
he never had been- above once in his company ; that the 
Doctor was a voluminous writer, and one of thofe authors 
who write from one end of the week to the other, without 
interruption. A gentleman, who happened to'dine with 
Dr. Campbell in the houfe of a common acquaintance, re- 
marked, that he would be glad to poflefs a complete fet of 
the Doctor's works. The hint was not loft ; for next 
morning he was furprifed at the appearance of a cart before 
his door. This cart "was loaded with the books he had 
afked for; the driver's" bill amounted to feventy pounds! 
As Dr. Campbell compofed a part of the Univerfal Hiftory, 
and of the Biographia Britannica, we may fuppoie, that 
thefe two ponderous articles formed a great part of the car- 
go. The Doctor was in ufe to get a number of copies of his 
publications from the printer, and keep them in his houfe 
for fuch an opportunity. A gentleman, who came-in one 
day, exclaimed, with furprife, <e Have von ever read all 

thefe 



J 79 

thefe books ?" — " Nay," replied Dr. Campbell, laughing, 
<f I have written them/' 

Of Swift, Dr. Smith made frequent and honourable 
mention. He denied thai the Dean could have written the 
Pindarics printed under his name. He affirmed, that he 
wanted nothing but inclination to have become one of the 
greatefr. of all poets. u But, in place of this, he is only a 
gofllper, writing merely for the entertainment of a private 
circle. " He regarded Swift, both in ftyle and fentiment, 
as a pattern of corre&nefs. He read to me fome of the 
fhort poetical addrefTes to Stella, and was particularly pleaf- 
ed with one couplet — 

" Savj Stella, feel you no content, 
" Reflecting on a life well-spent?" 

Though the Dean's verfes are remarkable for eafe and 
simplicity, yet the composition required an effort. To 
exprefs this difficulty, Swift ufed to fay, that a verfe 
came from him like a guinea. Dr. Smith considered 
the lines on his own death, as the Dean's poetical master- 
piece; He thought that, upon the whole, his poetry 
was correct, after he fettled in Ireland, when he was, 
as he himfelf faid, furroimded u only by humble friends." 

The Doctor had fome lingular opinions. J was furprifed 
at hearing him prefer Livy to all other historians, ancient 
and modern. He knew of no other who had even a pre- 
tence to rival him, if David Hume could not claim that ho- 
nour. He regretted, in particular, the lofs of his account of 
the civil wars in the age of Julius Caefar \ and when I at- 
tempted to comfort him by the library at Fez, he cut me 
fliort. I would have expected Polybius to ftand much 
higher in his esteem than Livy, as having a much nearer re- 
femblance to Dr. Smith's own manner of writing. Besides 
iiis miracles, Livy contains an immense number of the 
molt obvious and grofs falfehoods. 

n 2 . ■ He 



180 

He was no fanguine admirer of Shakefpeare. " Voltaire,, 
you know/' fays he, "calls Hamlet the dream of a drunken 
favage."— " He has good fcenes, but not one good play." 
The Doctor, however, would not have permitted any body 
elfe to pafs this verdict with impunity. For when I once 
afterwards, in order to found him, hinted a difrefpec"t for 
Hamlet, he gave a fmile, as if he thought I would detect 
him in a contradiction, and replied, " Yes 1 but ftill 
Hamlet is full of tine paffages." 

He had an invincible contempt and averfion for blank 
verfe ; Milton's always excepted. u They do well," he 
faid, i( to call it blank, for blank it is ; I myfelf, even I, 
who never could find afingle rhyme in my life, could make 
blank verfe as faft as I could fpeak; nothing but lazinefs 
hinders our tragic poets from writing, like the French, in 
rhyme. Dryden, had he poflfefled but a tenth part of 
Shakefpeare's dramatic genius, would have brought rhym- 
ing tragedies into famion here as well as they are in France, 
and then the mob would have admired them juft as much 
as they now pretend to defpife them. 

Beattie's Minflrel he would not allow to be called a poem; 
for it had, he faid, no plan, no beginning, middle, or end. 
He thought it only aferies of verfe s ; but a tew of them very 
happy. As for the translation Of the Iliad, "They do well," 
he faid, " to call it JPope's Homer; for it is not Homer's 
Homer. It has no refemblance to the majefty and fimplicity 
of the Greek." He read-over to me TAllegro and II Pen- 
ferofo, and explained the refpective beauties of each, but 
added, that all the reft of Milton's fliort poems were trafli. 
He could not imagine what had made Johnfon praife the 
poem on the Death of Mrs. Killigrew, and compare it with 
Alexander's Feaft. The criticifm had induced him to read it 
over, and with attention, twice ; and he could not difcover 
even a fpark of merit. At the fame time, he mentioned 

Gray'? 



181 

Gray's Odes, (which Johnfon has damned fo completely, 
and, in my humble opinion, with fo much juftice,) as the 
ftandard of lyric excellence. He did not much admire the 
Gentle Shepherd. He preferred the Pajior Fido, of which 
he fpoke with rapture, and the Eclogues of Virgil. I pled 
as I could for Allan Ramfay, becaufe I regard him as the 
fingle unaffected poet whom we have had fince Buchanan. 

Pr.oximus huic, longo sed proximus intcrvallo. 

He anfwered, " It is the duty of a poet to write like a gen- 
tleman. I diflike that homely ftyle which fome think fit to 
call the language of nature and Simplicity, and fo forth. In 
Percy's Reliques too, a few tolerable pieces are buried under 
a heap of rubbifh. You have read, perhaps, Adam Bell, 
Clym of the Cleugh, and William of Cloudeflie." I an- 
fwered, Yes. " Well then," faid he, " do you think 
that was worth printing ?" He reflecled with fome harfli- 
nefs on Dr. Goldfmith ; and repeated a variety of anecdotes 
to fupport his cenfure. 

They amounted to prove that Goldfmith loved a wench 
and a bottle ; and that a lie, when to ferve a fpecial end, 
was not excluded from his fyftem of morality. To commit 
thefe ftories to print would be very much in the modern 
tafte; but fuch proceedings appear to me as an abfolute 
difgrace to typography. 

He never fpoke but with ridicule and deteftation of the 
Reviews. He faid that it was not eafy to conceive in what 
contempt they were held in London. I mentioned a ftorv 
I had read of Mr. Burke haying feduced and dishonoured a 
young lady, under promife of marriage. "I imagine," faid 
he, " that you have got that fine itory out of fome of the 
Magazines. If any thing can be lower than the Reviews, 
they are fo. They once had the impudence to pubiiifi a 
ftory of a gentleman's having debauched his own filler; and 

n 3 upon 



182 

upon inquiry, it came-out that the gentleman never had a 
fitter. As to Mr. Burke, he is a worthy, honed, man, He 
married an accomplifhed girl, without a {hilling of fortune." 
I wanted to get the Gentleman's Magazine excepted from 
his general cenfure; but he would not hear me. He never, 
he faid, looked at a Review, nor even knew the names of 
the publifliers. 

He was fond of Pope, and had by heart many favourite 
pafTages; but he difliked the private character of the man. 
He was, ^he faid, all affectation, and mentioned his Letter 
toArbuthnot, when the latter was dying, as a confummate 
fpecimen of canting; which, to be fure, it is. He had alfo a 
very high opinion of Dryden, and loudly extolled his Fa- 
bles. I mentioned Mr. Hume's objections 5 he replied, 
a You will learn more as to poetry, by reading one good 
poem, than by a thoufand volumes of criticifm." He 
quoted fome pafTages in Defoe, which breathed, as he 
thought, the true fpirit of English verfe. 

He difliked Meikle's tranflation of the Lufiad, and 
eiteemed the French verfion of -that work as far fuperipr. 
Meikle, in his prefence, has contradicted, with great frank- 
nefs, fome of the pofitions advanced in the Doctor's Inqui- 
ry, which may perhaps have difgufted him; but, in truth, 
Meikle is only an indifferent rhymer. 

Dr. Smith, with Lord Garden {lone, regarded the French 
Theatre as the ftandard of dramatic excellence. 

He faid, that at the beginning of the prefent reign, the 
difTenting minifters had been in ufe to receive two thou- 
fand pounds* a year from Government; that the Earl of 
Bute had, (as he thought, moft improperly) deprived them 
of this allowance, and that he fuppofed this to be the real 
motive of their virulent oppofition to Government, 

Glafgoiv. 

* This sum of money has been generally represented as seven 
thousan.l pounds a year. 

ON 



/ON THE DOCTRINE OF LIBELS, 

A3 IT HAS BEEN" REPRESENTED BY SOME JUDGES. 



To the Printer of the Public Advertiser. 

Mr. Printer, February 15, 1792. 

I .cannot but rejoice to find, that Mr. Fox has re- 
lolved to employ his great abilities in endeavouring to 
afcertain the legal doctrines concerning libels, 
and to correct them, if found to be detrimental to a juft and 
moderate liberty of reasoning upo.n political meafures. One 
of the points that will .probably be the object of the Houfe's 
confederation in the debate that will arife upon this fubject 
is, " the right of the jury to inquire into the intentio?i of the 
writer, or publiflier, of the paper profecuted as a feditious 
lifcel ; and, into the tendency of the faid paper to raife 
fedition, or difturbance in the country, which is always 
afcribed to it in the Indictment, or Information, again ft the 
publidier, and conftitutes the very efTence of the crime im- 
puted to him." Now thefe points have been, by many 
modern Judges, confidered as matters of law, and therefore, 
fay they, as matters to be referved for the cognizance of the 
Judges only, and not for that of the jury, whofe whole bu*- 
linefs is, to declare " whether, or not, the paper in queftion 
.(fuch as it isj innocent or mifchievous,) was publifhed 
by the perfon accufed." Lord Mansfield, in particular 
has called the opinion, which a reader will form of the bad 
tendency of the paper, and of the wicked intention of the 
writer of it, from the perufal of it, an inference of law ; as 
if the knowledge of the law were reqnifite to form fuch an 
inference. But, furely, this may be clone without the 
N 4 fmalleft 



184 

fmaljeft acquaintance with either Lord Coke's Inftitutes, 
or his Reports, or PJowden's Reports, or any other fuch re- 
condite learning, and by the mere affiftance of common 
fenfe, and an ordinary acquaintance with the bufinefs and 
tranfactions of the world, fuch as a juryman may be fup- 
pofed to be pofTefTed-of. And, therefore, I mould think it. 
ought rather to be called an inference of reason, than an 
inference of law, and to be left to the cognizance of the 
jury; in the fame manner as, in a charge of burglary, or 
houfe-breaking by night, with an intention to commit a 
felony, the jury are to determine not only whether the 
prifoner at the bar broke into the houfe by night, but 
whether he did fo with an intention to commit a 
felony. Thefe are inferences of reafon and common fenfe, 
and not of law, as Lord Mansfield, and fome other Judges, 
have reprefented them, for the fake of taking them out of 
the cognizance of the jury : though, in truth, if they were 
inferences of law, it would not follow that the jury 
would have no 'right to determine them ; becaufe " every 
point of law that is accidentally intermixed with matters of 
facl, in the complicated iffue, or queftion, referred to the de- 
termination of a Jury, is within their cognizance," as Little- 
ton (the great oracle of the law) has expreffly declared, and 
all fubfequent lawyers have allowed. But, this is a point not 
necefTary to be infifted-on in confidering the doctrine of 
libels, because in thofe profceutions, all the points to be 
determined are mere matters of facl : to wit, jft, Whether 
the man published the paper — 2dly, Whether he had a bad 
defign in publilhing it — and 3dly, Whether the paper has a 
bad tendency, or is likely to produce bad eflfecls ; which laft 
point is as truly a matter of fact, as, " whether a man who 
is charged with wounding another with a fword, touched 
him with a fword, or touched him with a fencing-foil with a 
button at the end of it," or as, " whether a perfon who is 

charger 



185 

charged with poifoning another, by giving him a glafs of 
wine, gave him a glafs of mere wine, or a glafs of wine with 
arfenic in it." 

This doctrine of Lord Mansfield, and fome other Judges, 
(but which Lord Camden has repeatedly condemned), u that 
thefe points are inferences of law, and, therefore, (as they 
too haftily conclude,) not within thejurifdiction ofthejury," 
was not firft invented by Lord Mansfield, but was laid-down 
by Lord Raymond, in the cafe of the King and Franklin, 
which was tried on the 3d of December, 1731 ; and it has 
been mod commonly, but not, I think, conftantly, adhered- 
to by the Judges ever fince. But it was not the doctrine 
laid-down in the trial of the feven bifhops, in the year 1688, 
or the laft year of King James the Second, nor by 
Lord Chief-Juflice Holt, in the reign of Queen Anne. For, 
in the trial of Mr. Tutchin, in that reign, for one of the moll 
jeditious libels that ever were known, that great Chief- 
Juftice addrefiTes the jury in thcfe words : " Gentlemen of 
the Jury — this is an Information for publiihing libels against 
the Queen and her Government ;" and then, after ftating 
the proof of the publication of the papers, and reading fome 
paflages from them, he goes-on in this manner — a So that, 
" now you have heard this evidence, you are to confider 
" whether you are fatisfied that Mr. Tutchin is guilty of 
" writing, compofing, and publishing thefe libels. They 
" fay, thefe are innocent papers, and that nothing is a libel 
f( but what reflects upon fome particular perfon. But this 
Ci is a very ftrange doctrine, to fay, it is not a libel re- 
<c fleeting on Government— to endeavour to pofTefs the 
" people, that the Government is mal-adminiftered by cor- 
" rupt perfons that are employed in fuch and fuch ftations, 
" either in the navy or army. For it is very necefTary for 
" every Government that the people fhould have a good 
fS opinion of it ) and nothing can be worfe than to endeavour 

« to 



186 

ft to excite any animofities as to the management of it. 
c6 This has been always looked-upon as a crime j and no 
" Government can be fafe unlefs it be punimed. Now, 
<f you are to con/ider y whether thofe words I have read to 
" you do not tend to beget an ill opinion of the Admi- 
■" niftration of the Government ?" Here, we find this 
able Chief Juftice expreflly directing the Jury to connder 
the tendency of the papers in queftion — to wit, ff whether, 
" they do not tend to beget an ill opinion of the adminif- 
tration of the Government ?" inftead of telling them, (as 
f modern Judges have often done) that this tendency is a 
mere inference of law, which the Judges only have a right 
to make, without any concurrence of the Jury. And to this 
moft reafonable and valuable right of confidering both the 
tendency of the papers complained-of, and the intention of 
the writer, or publifher, in publifhing them, which is ufu- 
ally an inference of reafon, or common fenfe, not of law, 
to be drawn from the tendency of them y (though fomer- 
times it happens, that this intention may even be proved, 
by the positive teftimony of witnefTes, which is an addition- 
al mark of its being a matter of fa& y and not a matter of 
law), I hope, the Juries of this country will now be reftored, 
by the laudable and patriotick efforts of Mr. Fox and Mr. 
Erfkine in the courfe of the approaching debate. 

PHJLELEUTHERUS. 
F. M, 



THE 



18? 



THE BILL PROPOSED BY MR. FOX AND MR. ERSKINE IN 
SUPPORT OF THE RIGHT OF JURIES TO DETERMINE 
THE WHOLE MATTER IN ISSUE IN CRIMINAL PROSE- 
CUTIONS FOR PUBLISHING LIBELS. 



From the Public Advertiser, Feb. 15, 1792. 

Upon a fubject in which every Englifhman is fo materially 
interefted as in the pozaer of a jury, our readers may be 
gratified by a perufal of Mr. Fox's Bill, patriotically brought 
into Parliament to remove doubts refpecling the func- 
tions of Juries, in cases of Libel. 

The bill was yefterday read a third time, and palled to 
the Lords ; it is extremely fhort, and, verbatim, as follows. 

i( Whereas doubts have arifen, whether, on the trial of 
" an Indictment or Information for the making or publifhing 
," any libel, where an iflue or iflues are joined between the 
" King and the defendant or defendants, on the plea of " Not 
" Guilty" pleaded, it be competent to the Jury, impannel- 
" led to try the fame, to give their verdict upon the whol« 
u matter in iflue : 

u Be it therefore declared and enacted, by the King's 
u Mod Excellent Majefty, by and with the advice and 
u confent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Com- 
(i mons, in this prefent Parliament aflembled, and by the 
" authority of the fame, That, on every fuch trial, the 
" jury fworn to try the iflue, may give a general verdict of 
" Guilty or not Guilty, upon the whole matter put in 
" iffue upon fuch Indictment or Information; and (hall not 
" be required, or directed, by the Court, or Judge, before 
<( whom fuch Indictment, or Information, mail be tried, to 

find 



188 

ct find the defendant, or defendants, guilty, merely on the 
" proof of the publication by fuch defendant, or defendants, 
" of the paper charged to be a libel, and of the fenfe afcribed 
" to the fame in fuch Indictment or Information: Provided 
" always, that on every fuch trial, the court, or judge, before 
" whom fuch Indictment, or Information, (hall be tried, 
a fhall, according to their, or his, difcretion, give their, or 
ec his, opinion and directions to the Jury, on the matter in 
" iflue between the King and the defendant, or defendants, 
" in like manner as in other criminal cafes: Provided alfo, 
" that nothing herein contained fhall extend, to prevent 
Ct the Jury from finding a fpecial verdict, in their difcre- 
" tion, as in other criminal cafes : Provided alfo, that, in 
€C cafe the Jury (hall find the defendant, or defendants, 
" guilty, it {hall and may be lawful for the faid defendant, 
" or defendants, to move in arreft of judgment, on fuch 
ie ground, and in fuch manner, as, by law, he, or they, 
" might have done before the pafiing of this act; any thine: 
" herein contained to the contrary notwithstanding." 



AREO- 



189 



AREOPAGITICA: 

A SPEECH for the LIBERTY of UNLICENSED 

PRINTING, 

To the Parliament of England. 

Published in November, 1 644, 
BY JOHN MILTON, THE AUTHOR OF PARADISE LOST, 



Tshsvfepov V sxalvo, s'i ri$ 3-fAs/ moksi 
Xpygov u /SaAeujw/ sis psvov Gspsiv, eyjuv. 
■KaVraud' 6 ypyfcwv, Xctp-mpos eo*0': pj SeXwv, 
2iya: ri fsruy spy \<ra.Wspov rzoXci 5 

Euripid. Hicetid. 

This is true Liberty, when freeborn men, 
H'aving'to advise the public, may speak free, 
Which he who can, and will, deserves high praise; 
Who neither can, nor will, m*y hold his peace; 
What can be juster in a state than this ? 

Euripid. Hicetid, 



THEY, who to States and Governors of the common- 
wealth direct their fpeech, High Court of Parliament I 
or, wanting fuch accefs, in a private condition, write 
that which they forefee may advance the publick good; 
I fuppofe them, as at the beginning of no mean en- 
deavour, not a little altered and moved inwardly in 
their minds; fome with doubt of what will be the fuc- 
cefs, others with fear of what w'll be the cenfure; fome 
with hope, others with confidence of what they have 
to fpeak. And me perhaps each of thefe difpofitions, 
as the fubjecl: was whereon I entered, may have at 
other times varioufly affected; and likely might in 
thefe foremoft expreffions now alfo difclofe which of 
them fwayed moft, but that the very attempt of this 
addrefs thus made, and the thought of whom it hath 
recourfe to, hath got the power within me to a pafllon, 

far 



190 

far more welcome than incidental to a preface. 
Which though I ftay not to confefs ere any afk, I 
fhall be blamelefs, if it be no other, than the joy and 
gratulation which it brings to all who wifti and pro- 
mote their country's liberty; whereof this whole dif- 
courfe propofed will be a certain teftimony, if not a tro- 
phy. For this is not the liberty which we can hope, 
st that no grievance ever mould arife in the common- 
wealth :" Thai, let no man in this world expect. But, 
when complaints are freely heard, deeply confidered, 
and fpeedily reformed, then is the utmoft bound of ci- 
vil liberty attained, that wife men look-for. To which 
if I now manifeft, by the very found of this which I 
mall utter, that we are already in good part arrived; and 
yet from fuch a fteep difadvantage of tyranny and fit- 
perdition grounded into our principles, as was beyond 
the manhood of a Roman recovery ; it will be attri- 
buted firft, as is moft due, to the ftrong alTiftance of 
God, our Deliverer; next, to your faithful guidance and 
undaunted wifdom, Lords and Commons of England ! 
Neither is it in God's efteem, the diminution of his 
glory, when honourable things are fpoken of good 
men, and worthy magiftrates; which if 1 now firft 
fhould begin to do, after fo fair a progrefs of your laud- 
able deeds, and fuch a long obligement upon the 
whole realm to your indefatigable virtues, I might be 
juftly reckoned among the tardieft, and the unwillingeft, 
of them that praife ye. Neverthelefs there being three 
principal things, without which all praifing is but 
courtmip and flattery, firft, when that only is praifed 
which is folidly worth praife; next, when the greateft 
likelihoods are brought, that fuch things are truely 
and really in thofe perfons, to whom they are afcribed; • 
the other, when he who praifes, by mowing that fuch 

his 



191 

his a&ual perfuafion is of whom he writes, can de- 
monftrate that he flatters not ; the former two of thefe 
I have heretofore endeavoured, refcuing the employ- 
ment from him who went-about to impair your merits 
with a trivial and malignant encomium; the latter, as 
belonging chiefly to mine own acquittal, " that whom 
I fo extolled I did not flatter," hath been referved op- 
portunely to this occafion. For he who freely magnifies 
what hath been nobly done, and fears not to declare as 
freely what might be done better, gives ye the bed co- 
venant of his fidelity; and that his loyaleft affection 
and his hope waits on your proceedings. His higheft 
praifing is not flattery, and his plained advice is a kind 
of praifing; for, though I mould affirm and hold by ar- 
gument, that it would fare better with truth, with learn- 
ing, and the commonwealth, if one of your published 
orders, which I mould name, were called-in; yet at the 
fame time it could not but much redound to the luftre 
of your mild and equal government, whenas private 
perfons are hereby animated to think ye better pleafed 
with publick advice, than other ftatifb have been de- 
lighted heretofore with publick flattery. And men wnT 
then fee what difference there is between the magnani- 
mity of a triennial parliament, and that jealous haugh- 
tinefs of prelates and cabin-counsellors* that ufurped of 
late, when as they mall obferve ye, in the midft of your 
victories and fucceffes, more gently brooking written ex- 
ceptions againft a voted order, than other courts, 
which had produced nothing worth memory but the 
weak oftentation of wealth, would have endured the 
lead fignified diflike at any fudden proclamation. If I 
mould thus far prefume upon the meek demeanor of 

* That is, chamber-counsellors, or counsellors who are as- 
sembled by the king in a private chamber, as it were in the 
cabin of a ship, to g'ive him advice in matters of state. 

vour 



192 



your civil and gentle greatnefs, Lord's and Comrhons !* 
as what your publifhed order hath directly faid, that 
to gainfay, I might defend myfelf with eafe, if any 
fhould accufe me of being new or infolent, did they 
but know how much better I find ye efteem it to imU 
tate the old and elegant humanity of Greece, than the 
barbaric pride of a Hunnifh and Norwegian ftatelinefs. 
And out of thofe ages, to whofe polite wifdom and 
letters we owe that we are not yet Goths and Jutlan- 
ders, I could name him who from his private houfe 
wrote that difcourfe to the pailiament of Athens, that 
perfuades them to change the form of democraty which 
was then e flab li fried. Such honour was done in thofe 
days to men who profefled the ftudy of wifdom and 
eloquence, not only in their own country, but in 
other lands, that cities and figniories heard them 
gladly, and with great refpecl:, if they had aught in 
publick to admonim the (late. Thus did Dion Prufseus, 
a Granger and a private orator, counsel the Rhodians 
againft a former Edict ; and I abound with other like 
examples, which to fet here would be fuperfluous. 
But, if from the induftry of a life wholly dedicated to 
ftudious labours, and thofe natural endowments haply 
not the worft for two and fifty degrees of northern la- 
titude, fo much muft be derogated, as to count me 
not equal to any of thofe who had this privilege, T 
would obtain to be thought not fo inferior, as your- 
felves are. fuperior to the moft of them who received 
their counfel \ and how far you excel them, be allured, 
Lords and Commons ! there can no greater teftimo- 
ny appear, than when your prudent fpirit acknowledges 
and obeys the voice of reafon, from what quarter fo- 
ever it be heard fpeaking; and renders ye as willing 
to repeal any act of your own fetting-forth as any fet- 
forth by your predeceflbrs. 

If 



193 

If ye be thus refolved, (as it were injury to 
think ye were not,) I know not what (hould withhold me 
from prefenting ye with a fit inftance wherein to (how 
both that love of truth which ye eminently profefs, and 
that uprightncfsof your judgment which is not wont to be 
partial to yourfelves; by judging over^again that order 
which ye have ordained" to regulate printirig; that no ^^Jf 
book, pamphlet, or paper, (hall be henceforth printed, Parliament 
tinlefs the fame be firft approved and licenfed by fuch, printing 
6rat lead one of fuch, as (hall be thereto appointed*" £^ s c # nsc 
For that part which preferves juftly every man's copy 
to himfelf, or provides for the poor* I touch not; only 
wifh they be not made pretences to abufe aod perfe^ 
cute honeft and painful meiij who offend not in either 
ofthefe particulars. But that other claufc of licenfing 
books, which wc thought had died with his brother 
quadragefimal and matrimonial when the prelates expir- 
ed, 1 (hall now attend witb fuch a homily, as (hall lay 
before ye, firft the inventors of it, to be thofe whom ye 
will be loth to own; next, what is to be thought inThcplafc 
general of reading, whatever fort the books be; and ^sdls* 
that this order avails nothing to the fupprefling of course - 
fcandalous, feditious, and libellous books, which were 
mainly intended to be fupprefled. La ft, that it will 
be primely to the difcouragement of all learning, and 
the flop of truth, not only by difexercifing and blunt- 
ing our abilities, in what we know already, but by 
hindering and cropping the discovery that might be 
yet further made, both in religious and civil wifdom. 

I deny not but that it is of greateil con- Thereat 
cernment in the church and commonwealth, to have a vi- ,nn ^ nce of 

7 books on ail 

gilant eye how books demean themfelves as well as men; pubiick af- 
and thereafter to confine, imprifon, and do fharpeft jus- 
tice on them as malefa&ors ; for bookf are not abfolutely 

o dead 



194 



The ill con 

sequences 
of suppres- 
sing good 
enes. 



A view of 

the me- 
thods taken 
by ancient 
common- 
wealths, to 
restrain the 
publication 
of pernici- 
ous books. 



dead things, but do contain a potency of life in them 
to be as active as that foul was whofe progeny they 
are ; nay, they do preferve, as in a vial, the pureft 
efficacy and extraction of that living intellect that bred 
them. I know they are as lively, and as vigoroufly 
productive, as thofe fabulous dragon's teeth; and, beings 
" fown up and down, may chance to fpring-up armed men. 
And yet, on the other hand, unlefs warinefs be ufed, as 
good almoft kill a man as kill a good book : who kills 
a man kills a reafonable creature, God's image; but he 
who deftroys a good book, kills reafon itfelf, kills the 
image of God, as it were, in the eye. Many a man 
lives a burden to the earth ; but a good book is the 
precious life-blood of a matter fpirit, imbalmed and 
treafured-up on purpofe to a life beyond life. It is 
true, no age can reflore a life, whereof perhaps there 
is no- great lofs ; and revolutions of ages do not oft 
recover the lofs of a rejected truth, for the want of 
which whole nations fare the worfe. We fhouid be 
wary therefore what perfecution we raife againft the 
living labours of publick men, how we fpill that leafoned 
life of man, preserved and ftored-up in books ; fince 
we fee a kind of homicide may be thus committed, 
fometimes a martyrdom ; and, if it extend to the 
whole impreffion, a kind of maflacre, whereof the 
execution ends not in the Haying of an elemental life, 
but -ftrikes at the sethereal and fifth efTence, the breath 
of reafon itfelf; (lays an immortality rather than a life. 
But, left I fhouid be condemned of introducing licence, 
while I oppofe licenfing, I refufe not the pains to be fo 
much hiftorical, as will ferve to mow what hath been 
done by ancient and famous commonwealth?, againft 
this diforder, till the very time that this project of licenf- 
ing crept-out of the Inquilition, was catched-up by our 

Prelates, and hath caught fome of our Presfbvters. 

In 



195 

In Athens, where books and wits were In Athens, 
ever bufier than in any other part of Greece, I find but 
only two forts of writings which the magiftrate cared to 
take notice of; thofe either blafphemous and atheiftical, 
or libellous. Thus the books of Protagoras were by the 
judges of Areopagus commanded to be burnt, and him- 
felf banifhed the territory, for a difcourfe, begun with 
his confeffing not to know, cc whether there were gods, 
or whether not." And againll defaming, it was agreed 
that none fhould be traduced by name, as was the 
manner of Vetus Comosdia, whereby we may guefs 
how they cenfured libelling; and this courfe was quick 
enough, as Cicero writes, to quell both the defperate 
wits of other atheifts, and the open way of defaming, 
as the event (hewed. Of other feels and opinions, 
though tending to voluptuoufnels, and the denying of 
Divine providence, they took no heed. Therefore we 
do not read that either Epicurus, or that libertine fchool 
of Cyrene, or what the Cynic impudence uttered, was 
ever queftioned by the laws. Neither is it recorded, 
that the writings of thofe old comedians were fupprefTed, 
though the acting of them were forbid ; and that Plato 
commended the reading of Ariftophanes, the loofeft of 
them all, to his royal fcholar Dionyfius, is commonly 
known, and may be excufed, if holy Chryfoftom, as 
is reported, nightly liudied fo much the fame author, and 
had the art to cleanfe a fcurrilous vehemence into the 
ftyle of a routing fermon. 

That other leading city of Greece, Lacedaemon, con- In Laced£e 

. . . mon. 

(idering that Lycurgus, their lawgiver, was fo addicted to 
elegant learning, as to have been the firft that brought out 
of Ionia the fcattered works of Homer, and tent the poet 
Thales from Crete to prepare and mollify the Spartan fur- 
linefs with his fmooth fongs and odes, the better to plant 
among them law and civility ; it is to be wondered how 
02 mufelefs 



196 

mufelefs and unbookifti they were, minding nought but 
thefeatsofwar. Thereneedednoliccnfincr of books among 

DO 

them ; for they difliked all but their own laconic 
apothegms, and took a (light occalion to chafe Archi- 
Jochus out of their city, perhaps for compofing in a 
higher (train than their own foldiery ballads and roun- 
dels could reach to ; or, if it were for his broad verfes, 
they were not therein fo cautious, but they were as 
diflblute in their promifcuous converfing ; whence 
Euripides affirms in Andromache, that their women 
were all unchafte. Thus much may give us light after 
what fort of books were prohibited among the Greeks. 
In Rome. ^ ne R° mans a ^°j for many ages trained -up only to 
sl military roughnefs, refembling rnoft the Lacedaemo- 
nian guife, knew of learning little but what their 
twelve tables and the Pontific college, with their Augurs 
and Flamins, taught them in religion and law ; fo unac- 
quainted with other learning, that when Carneades 
and Critolaus, with the Stoic Diogenes, coming Embaf- 
fadors to Rome, took thereby occafion to give the city 
a tafte of" their Philofophy, they were fufpeclied for fe- 
ducers by no lefs a man than Cato the Cenfor, who mov- 
ed it in the fenate to difmifs them fpeedily, and to banifli 
all fuch Attic babblers out of Italy. But Scipio and 
others of the nobleil fenators withftood him and his 
old Sabin aufterity ; honoured and admired the men : 
and the Cenfor himfclf at laft, in his old age, fell to the 
ftudy of that whereof before he was fo fcrupulous. 
And yet at the fame time, Naevius and Plautus, the 
firft Latin comedians, had filled the city with all the 
borrowed fcenes of Menander and Philemon. Then 
began to be confidered there alfo what was to be done 
to libellous books and authors : forNsevius was quick- 
lv caft into prifon for his unbridled pen, and releafed 
by the tribunes upon his recantation. We read alfo 

that 



197 

that libels were burnt; and the makers punifhed by Au- 
guftus. The like feverity, no doubt, was ufed, if aught 
were impioufly written againft their efteemed gods. 
Except in thefe two points, how the world went in 
books, the magiftrate kept no reckoning. And there- 
fore Lucretius, without impeachment,veHifies his Epicu- 
rifm to Memmius, and had the honour to be fet-forth 
the fecond time by Cicero, fo great a father of the 
commonwealth ; although himfelf difputes againft 
that opinion in his own writings. Nor was the fatiri- 
cal fharpnefs, or naked plainnefs, of Lucilius, or Catul- 
lus, or Flaccus, by any order prohibited. And for 
matters of ftate, the ftory of Titus Livius, though it 
extolled that part which Pompey held, was not there- 
fore fupprefled by O&avius Caefar, of the other faction. 
But that Nafo was by him baniihed in his old age, for 
the wanton poems of his youth, was but a mere covert 
of ftate over fome fecret caufe ; and befides, the books 
were neither baniihed nor called-in. From hence we 
{hall meet with little elfe but tyranny in the Roman 
empire, that we may not marvel, if not fo often bad 
as good books , were filenced. I (hall therefore deem 
to have been large enough, in producing what among 
the ancients was fo punifhabic to write, fave only 
which, all other arguments were free to treat on. 

By this time the Emperors were become Chriftians* Ho . w far » 

.... ... ant l *nwhat 

whofe difcipline in this point f do not find to have manner,the 
been more fevere than what was formerly in practice, £f danger?* 
The books of thofe whom they took to be grand Here- ™* b r f ks 
tics, were examined, refuted, and condemned in the *t»roed l un- 
General Councils ; and not till then were prohibited, or manEmpe- 
burnt by authority of the hlmperor. As for the writ- they were 

in£s of heathen authors, unlcfs they were plain invec- £t com . e 

. P . ... Christians, 

lives againft Chriftianity, as thofe of Porphyrius and 

o 3 Proclus, 



198 

Proclus, they met with no interdict that can be cited, 
till about the year 4oo, in a Carthaginian Council, 
wherein bifhops themfelves were forbid to read the 
books of Gentiles, but Herefies they might read •, while 
others, long before them, on the contrary fcrupled more 
the books of Heretics, than of Gentiles. And that the 
primitive Councils and Bifhops were wont only to de- 
clare what books were not commendable, pafling no 
further, but leaving it to each one's confcience to read 
or to lay-by, till after the year 800, is obferved already 
by Padre Paolo, the great unmafker of the Trentine 
£^n°to eS Council. After which time the Popes of Rome, en- 
prohibit the gr ro ffl n g wna t they pleafed of political rule into their 

reading of & b < l . * . . 

books that own hands, extended their dominion over men's eyes, 
liked, about as tne y had before over their judgments, burning, and 
the year prohibiting to be read, what they fancied not ; yet fpar- 
ing in their cenfures, and the books not many which 
they fo dealt with; till Martin the Fifth, by his bull 
not only prohibited, but was the firft that excommuni- 
cated the readers of heretical books ; for about that 
time Wickliffe and HufTe, growing terrible, were they 
who firft drove the Papal Court to a ftricler policy of 
prohibiting. Which courfe Leo the Tenth and his 
fucceffors followed; until the Council of Trent, 'and 
the Spanifh Inquifition, engendering together, brought- 
forth, or perfected, thofe catalogues and expurging In- 
dexes, that rake through the entrails of many an old 
good author, with a violation worfe than any could be 
offered to his tomb. Nor did they flay in matters here- 
tical ; but any fubjec"f., that was not to their palate, 
they either condemned in a prohibition, or had it 
At last, ftraight into the new Purgatory of an Index. To fill- 
WoHhe U P tne meafure of encroachment, their hft invention 
Coundl of wag t0 or( i a i n that no book, pamphlet, or. paper, 

ihould 



199 

mould be printed/ (as if St. Peter had bequeathed them J™^ 6 ^ 

the keys of the prefs alfo as well as of Paradife) imlefs>thatnonew 

it were approved and licenfed under the hands of two be printed 

or three gluttonous friars. For example;: been ap- 

proved by a 
Let the chancellor Cini be pleafed to fee if in this licenser. 

prefent work be contained aught that may with- 

ftand the printing; 

Vincent Rabbata, Vicar of Florence. 

I have feen this prefent work, and find nothing 
athwart the catholic faith and good manners ; 
in witnefs whereof I have given, &c. 

Nicolo Cini, Chancellor of Florence. 

Attending the precedent relation, it is allowed 
that this prefent work of Davanzati may be printed. 

Vincent Rabatta, &c. 

It may be printed, July 15. 

friar Simon Mompei d' Amelia, Chancellor of 
the Holy Office in Florence. 

' Sure they have a conceit, if he of the bottomlefs pit 
had not long fince broke prifon, that the quadruple 
exorcifm would bar him down. I fear their next de- 
iign will be to get into their cuftody the licenfing of 
that which they fay Claudius intended*, but went not 
through with. Vouchfafe to fee another of their forms* 
the Roman (lamp ; 

Imprimatur, If it feem good to the Reverend Matter 
of the Holy Palace. Belcaftro, Vicegerent. 

Imprimatur, Friar Nicholo Rodolphi, Mailer of 
the Holy Palace. 

* Quo veniam daret flatum crepitumuue ventris in convivio 
toittendi. Suetonius, in Claudio. 

o 4 Sometimes 



200 



The B'- Sometimes five Imprimaturs are feen together ilia- 

sKops, ia Ioeue-wife inthepiatza of one titlepaae, compliment- 
imitation of. - , . .. f .,,./! 
the Popes, mg and ducking each to other with their inaven reve- 

thircustom rences > whether the author, who ftands-by in perplexi- 
of Licensing ty at tne foot of his epiftle, (hall to the prefs or to the 

into Eng- J r * r 

land. fpunge. Thefe are the pretty refponfories, — thefe are 

*he dear antiphonies^ — that fo bewitched of late our Pre- 
lates and their chaplains, with the goodly echo they 
made ; and befotted us to the gay imitation of a lordly 
Imprimatur j one from Lambeth- houfe, another from 
the Weft end of Paul's ; fo apifnly romanizing, that 
the word of command ftill was fet-down in Latin ; as 
if the learned grammatical pen that wrote it would caft 
no ink without Latin ; or perhaps, as they thought, 
becaufe no vulgar tongue was worthy to exprefs the 
pure conceit of an Imprimatur ; but rather, as I hope, 
for that our Englifh, the language of men ever famous 
and foremqfl in the achievements of liberty, will not 
eafily find fervile letters enow to fpell fuch a dilatory 
prefumption Englifhed* And thus ye have the inven- 
tors, and the original, of book-licenfing ripped-up, and 
drawn as lineally as any pedigree. We have it not, 
that can be heard- of, from any ancient State, or 
Polity, or Church, nor by any Statute left us by our an- 
ceftors, elder or later; nor from the modern cuftom of 
any reformed City, or Church, abroad •, but from the 
moft antichriftian Council, and the mod tyrannous In- 
quifition, that ever enquired. Till then books were 
ever as freely admitted into the world as any other birth; 
the iflue of the brain was no more ftifled than the iifue 
of the womb ; no envious Juno fat crofc-lcgged over the 
nativity of any man's intellectual offspring; bur,if it prov- 
ed a mdnfter, who denies but that it was juftly burnt, 
or funk into the fea r But that a book, in worfe con- 
dition 



201 



dition than a peccant foul, mould be to ftand before a 
jury ere it be born to the world, and undergo yet in 
darknefs the judgment of Radamanth and his col- 
leagues, ere k can pafs the ferry backward into light, 
was never heard before, till that myfterious iniquity, 
provoked and troubled at the firft entrance of Informa- 
tion, fought-out new Limboes and new Hells wherein 
they might include our books alfo within the number 
of their damned. And this was the raremorfel fo offi- 
cioufly fnatched-up, and fo ill-favouredly imitated by 
our Inquifiturient Bifhops, and the attendant Minorites, 
their chaplains. That ye like not now thefe mod cer- 
tain authors of this llcenjing order, and that all finifter 
intention was far diftant from your thoughts, when ye 
were importuned the pafling it, all men who know the 
Integrity of your a&iGns, and how ye honour truth, will 
clear ye readily. 

But fome will fay, " what though the inventors were 
bad ? the thing for all that may be good." It may fo ; 
yet, if that thing be no fuch deep invention, but obvi- 
ous and eafy for any man to light-on, and yet the beft 
and wifeft commonwealths through all ages and occa- 
sions have forborn to ufe it, and falfeft feducers and op- 
preffors of men were the -firft who took it up, and to 
no other purpofe but to obftruct and hinder the firft 
approach of reformation ; I am of thofe who believe, 
it will be a harder alchymy than Lullius ever knew, to 
fublimate any good ufe out of fuch an Invention. Yet 
this only is what I requefl to gain from this reafon, 
" that it may be held a dangerous and fufpieious fruit, 
(as certainly it deferves, for the tree that bore it,) untill 
can diffe&, one by one, the properties it has." But I 
have flrft to finifli, as was propounded, what is to be 
thought in general of reading books, whatever fort 

they 



Of the-ef- they be, and whether be more the benefit or the harm 

feet of read- J * 

ing all sorts that thence proceeds. 

and whe- Not to infill upon the examples of Mofes, Daniel, 

mos/goo? and Paul > who were ^i 1 ^ 1 in a11 the learning of the 
or harm. Egyptians, Chaldeans, and Greeks, which could not 
probably be without reading their books of all forts, in 
Paul efpecially, who thought it no defilement to infert 
into holy fcripture the fentences of three Greek poets, 
and one of them a tragedian. The queftion was notwith- 
ftanding fometimes controverted among the primitive 
doctors ; but with great odds on that fide which affirm-; 
fed it both lawful and profitable; as was then evidently 
^ fij perceived, when Julian, the Apoftate, and fubtleft ene- 
my to our faith, made a decree forbidding Chriltians 
the fludy of heathen learning; "for, faid he, they 
" wound us with our own weapons, and with our own 
" arts and fciences they overcome us.* ,J And indeed the 
Ghriftians were put fo to their fhifts by this crafty 
means, and fo much in danger to decline into all igno- 
rance, that the two Apollinarii were fain, as a man 
may fay, to coin all the feven liberal fciences out of the 
Bible, reducing it into divers forms of orations, poems, 
dialogues, even to the calculating of a new chriftian 
grammar. But, faith the hiflorian Socrates, the Provi- 
dence of God provided better than the induftry of Apol- 
linarius and his fon, by taking-away that illiterate law 
with the life of him who devifed it. So great an in- 
jury they then held it to be deprived of Hellenic learn- 
ing ; and thought it a perfecution more undermining, 
and fecretly decaying the church, than the open cruel- 
ty of Decius or Dioclefian. And perhaps it was with the 
fame politic drift that the devil whipped St. Jerom in 
a lenten dream, for reading Cicero ; or elfe it was a 
phantafm, bred by the fever which had then feized 

him. 



203 



him. For had an angel been his difcipliner, unlefs it 
were for dwelling too mueh on Ciceronianifms, and 
had chaftifed the reading, not the vanity, it had been 
plainly partial ; firft to correct him for grave Cicero, and 
not for fcurril Plautus, whom he confefles to have been 
reading not long before ; next to correct. £im only, and 
let fo many more ancient fathers wax old in thofe 
pleafant and florid ftudies without the lafh of fuch a 
tutoring apparition ; infomuch that Bafil teaches how 
fom.e good ufe may be mads of Margites, a fportfui 
poem, not now extant, writ by Homer ; and why not 
then of Morgante, an Italian romance much to the fame 
purpofe ? But, if it be agreed we {hall be tried by vi- 
fions, there is a vifion recorded by Eufebius, far anci- 
enter than this tale of Jerom, to the nun Euftochium, 
and betides, has nothing of a fever in it. Dionyfius 
Alexandrinus was, about the year 240, a perfon of great 
name in the church, for piety and learning, who had 
wont to avail himfelf much againft heretics, by being 
eonverfant in their books; until a certain prefbyter 
laid it fcrupuloufly to his confciencc, how he durft venr 
ture himfelf among thofe defiling volumes. The wor- 
thy man, loth to give offence, fell into a new debate 
with himfelf what was to be thought ; when fuddenly 
a vifion fent from God, (it is his own epiftle that 
avers it,) confirmed him in thefe words : ec Read any 
books whatever, that come to thy hands ; for thou art 
fufficient both to judge aright, and to examine each 
matter." To this revelation he afTented the fooner, as he 
confefles, becaufe it was anfwerable to that of the 
Apoftle to the ThefTalonians ; " Prove all things, hold 
fail that which is good." And he might have added 
another remarkable faying of the fame author : " To 
the pure, all things are pure ?' not only meats and 

drinks, 



£0i 

drinks, but all kind of knowledge, whether of good or 
evil ; the knowledge cannot defile, nor confequently 
the books, if the will and confcience be not defiled. 
For books are as meats and viands are ; fome of good, 
tome of evil fubftance ; and yet God in that unapocry- 
phal vifion faid without exception, " Rife, Peter; kill 
and eat;" leaving the choice to each man's discretion. 
Wholefome meats to a vitiated ftomach differ little or 
nothing from unwholefome ; and beft books to a 
naughty mind are not unapplicable to occafions of evil. 
Bad meats will fcarce breed good nouriflmient in the 
healthieft concoction ; but herein the difference is of 
bad books, that they to a difcreet and judicious reader 
ferve in many refpects to difcover, to confute, to fore- 
warn, and to illuftrate. Whereof what better witnefs 
can ye expect I mould produce, than one of your own 
body, now fitting in parliament, the chief of learned men 
reputed in this land, Mr. Selden ; whofe volume of na- 
tural and national laws proves, not only by great au- 
thorities brought. together, but by exquifite reafons and 
theorems almoft mathematically demonftrative, that all 
opinions, yea errours, known, read, and collated, are of 
main fervice and affiftance toward the fpecdy attainr 
The liberty ment of what is trueft. I conceive, therefore, that,when 
what books God did enlarge the univerfal diet of man's body (fav- 
wefus'that * n S ever l ^ e ru ^ es °^ temperance,) he then alfo,. as be- 
of chusing fore.left arbitrary the dieting and repaftine: of our minds. 

what meats * • , , -r * * 

to feed-on, as wherein every mature man might have to exercife his 
kftto every own leading capacity. How great a virtue is temper- 

mausown ance now niuc h of moment through the whole life of 
discretion. ' c 

man ! Yet God commits the manasfinrr fo creat a truft 

without particular law or prefcription, wholly to the 

demeanour of every grown man. And therefore, when 

he himfeif tabled the Jews from Heaven, that omer, 

which 



20b 



which was every man's daily portion of manna, is com- 
puted to have been more than might have well fufficed 
the heartieft feeder thrice as many meals* For thofe 
actions which enter into a man, rather than iflue out 
of him, and therefore defile not, God ufes not to cap- 
tivate under a perpetual childhood of prescription, but 
trufts him with the gift of reafon to be his own choo- 
fer. There were but little work left for preaching, if Law 
and Compulfion mould grow fo faft upon thofe things 
which heretofore were governed only by Exhortation. 
Solomon informs us, that "much reading is a wearinefs 
to the flefli:" but neither he, nor any other infpired au- 
thor, tells us that fuch, or fuch, reading is unlawful. Yet 
certainly, had God thought good to limit us herein, it 
had been much more expedient to have told us what was 
unlawful, than what was wearifome. As for the burn- 
ing of thofe Ephefian books by St. Paul's converts; 
it is replied, the books were magic, the Syriac fo ren- 
ders them. It was a private a&, a voluntary act, and 
leaves us to a voluntary imitation : the men in remorfe 
burnt thofe books which were their own ; the magis- 
trate by this example is not appointed : thefe men prac- 
ticed the books ; another might perhaps have read them 
in fome fort ufefully. Good and Evil, we know, in the 
field of this world grow-up together almoft infeparably ; 
and the knowledge of good is fo involved and interwo- 
ven with the knowledge of evil, and in fo many cunning 
refemblances hardly to be difcemed, that thofe confut- 
ed feeds which were impofed upon Pfyche as an incef- 
fant labour to cull-out, and fort-afunder, were not more 
intermixed. It was from out the rind of one apple 
tafted, that the knowledge of Good and Evil, as two 
twins cleaving-together, leaped- forth into the world. 
And, perhaps, this is that doom, which Adam fell-into, 



206 



of knowing good and evil, that is to fay, of knowing 
Good by Evil. As therefore the date of man now is ; 
what wifdom can there be to choofe, what continence 
to forbear, without the knowledge of evil ? He that 
can apprehend and confider vice with all her baits and 
ieeming pleafures, and yet abftain, and yet diftinguifh, 
and yet prefer, that which is truly better, he is the true 
warfaring Ghriftian. I cannot praife a fugitive and 
cloiftered virtue, unexercised and unbreathed ; that never 
fallies-out and fees her adverfary, but flinks out of the 
race, where that immortal garland is to be run-for, not 
without duft and heat. Afluredly we bring not inno- 
cence into the world ; we bring impurity much rather: 
that which purifies us is Trial; and Trial is by what is 
contrary. That virtue therefore which is but a young- 
ling in the com tempi at ion of evil, and knows not the 
utmoft that vice proraifes to her followers, and rejects 
it, is but a blank virtue, not a pure; her whitenefs 
is but an excremental whitenefs ; which was the reafon 
why our fage and ferious poetSpenfer, (whom I dare 
be known to think a better teacher than Scotus or 
Aquinas,) defcribing true Temperance under the perfon 
of Guion, brings him in with his palmer through the 
cave of Mammon, and the power of earthly blifs ; that 
he might fee and know, and yet abftain. Since there- 
fore the knowledge and furvey of vice is in this world 
fo neceffary to the conftituting of human virtue; and thjf 
fcanning of errour to the confirmation of truth ; how 
can wemore fafely, and with lefs danger, fcout into the 
regions of fin and falfity, than by reading all manner of 
tractates, and hearing all manner of reafon ? And 
this is the benefit which may be had of books promif- 
cuoufly read. 

But of the harm that may refult hence, three 
kinds are ufually reckoned. Firft, is feared the in- 
fection 



207 

fe&ion that may fpread. But then, all human learn- 
ing and controverfy in religious points muft remove 
out of the world ; yea, the Bible itfelf : for that ofttimes 
relates blafphemy not nicely, it defcribes the carnal 
fenfe of wicked men not unelegantly ; it brings -in holi- 
ell men paffionately murmuring againft Providence* 
through all the arguments of Epicurus : in other great 
difputes it anfwers dubioufly and darkly to the common 
reader | and alk a Talmudift what ails the modefty of 
his marginal Keri, that Mofes and all the prophets can- 
not perfuade him to pronounce the textual Chetiv. 
For thefe caufes we all know the Bible itfelf is put by 
the papift into the firft rank of prohibited books.- 
The ancienteft fathers muft be next removed, as Cle- 
ment of Alexandria, and that "Eufebian book of Evan- 
gelic Preparation, transmitting our ears through a 
hoard of heathenifti obfeenities, to receive the gofpeh 
Who finds not that Irenaeus, Epiphanius, Jerom, and 
others, difcover more herefies than they well confute, 
and take that oft for herefy which is the truer opinion } 
Nor boots it to fay for these, and all the heathen wri- 
ters of greateft infection (if it muft be thought fo,) with 
whom is bound-up the life of human learning, that 
they writ in an unknown tongue, so long as we are 
fure thofe languages are known as well to the worft of 
men, who are both moft able, and moft diligent, to in- 
ftil the poifon they fuck, firft, into the courts of princes, 
acquainting them with the choiceft delights, and cri- 
ticifms of fin. As perhaps did that Petronius, whom Ne- 
ro called his arbiter, the matter of his revels; and 
that notorious ribald of Arezzo, dreaded and yet dear to 
the Italian courtiers. I name not him for posterity's 
fake, whom Henry the Eighth named in merriment his 
vicar of Hell. By which compendious way all the 

contagion 



208 

contagion that foreign books can infufe will find a paf- 
fage to the people far eafier and (horter than an Indian' 
voyage, (though it could be failed either by the north of 
Cataio eaftward, or of Canada weflward,) while our 
Spanifli Licencing gags the Englifh prefs never fo'fevere- 
l)\ But on the other tide, that infection which is 
from books of controverfy in religion, is more doubtful 
and dangerous to the learned, than to the ignorant; 
and yet thofe books mull be permitted untouched by 
the Licenfer. It will be hard to inftance where arty ig- 
norant man hath been ever feduced by any papiftical 
book in Englifh, unlefs it were commended and ex- 
pounded to him by fome of that clergy ; and indeed all 
fuch tractates, whether falfe or true, are as the prophe- 
cy of Ifaiah was to the Eunuch, not to be iC underftood 
without a guide." But of our priefts and doctors how 
many have been corrupted by ftudying the comments 
of Jefuits and Sorbonifls, and how fait they could 
transfufe that corruption into the people, our experience 
is both late and fad. It is not forgot, fince the acute 
and diftinct Arminius was perverted merely by the pe- 
rufing of a namelefs difcourfe written at Delft, which 
at flrit he took in hand to confute. Seeing therefore 
that thofe books, and thofe in great abundance which 
are likelieft to taint both life and doctrine, cannot be 
fuppreiTed without the fall of learning, and of all ability 
in difputation, and that thefe books of either fort are 
mod and fooneft catching to the learned, (from whom 
to the common people whatever is heretical or diflblute 
may quickly be conveyed,) and that evil manners areas 
perfectly learnt without books in a thoufand other ways 
which cannot be flopped, and evil doctrine not with 
books can propagate, except a teacher guide, which he 
might alfo do without writing, and fo beyond prohibit- 
ing ,• 



209 



ing; I am Hot able to unfold; how this cautelous 
enterprize of Licenfing can be exempted from the nuin- 
her of vain and impoffible attempts. And he who 
were pleafantly difpofed, could not well avoid to liken 
it to the exploit of that gallant man, who thought to 
pound-up the crows by {hutting his park-gate. Bendes 
another inconvenience, if learned men be the firfl re- 
ceivers out of books, and difpreaders both of vice and 
errour, how (hall the Licenfers themfelves be confided- 
in, unlefs we can confer upon them, or they aflume to 
themfelves, above all others in the land, the grace of 
infallibility and uncorruptednefs ? And again, if it be 
true, that a wife man, like a good refiner, can gather 
gold out of the droffieft volume, and that a fool will be a 
fool with the bell book, yea, or without any book ; there 
is no reafon that we mould deprive a wife man of any 
advantage to his wifdom, while we feek to reftrain 
from a fool that which, being reftrained,will be no hin- 
derance to his folly. For, if there mould be fo much 
exaclnefs always ufed to keep that from him which is 
unfit for his reading, we mould, in the judgment, not 
only of Ariftotle, but of Solomon, and of our Saviour, 
not vouchfafe him good precepts, and by confequence 
not willingly admit him to good books ; as being cer- 
tain that a wife man will make a better ufe of an idle 
pamphlet, than a fool will do of facrcd fcripture. 

It is next alledged, that we muftnot expofeour felves 
to temptations without neceflityj and next to that, not 
employ our time in vain things. To both thefe objec- 
tions one anfwer will ferve, out of the grounds already 
kid, " that to all men fuch books are not temptations, 
nor vanities : but [to many are ] ufeful drugs and materials- 
wherewith to temper and compefe effective and ftrong 
medicine?, which man's life cannot want." The reft, 

p a? 



210 

as children and childifh men, who have not the art to 
qualify and prepare tbefe working minerals, well may 
be exhorted to forbear ; but hindered forcibly they cannot 
be, by all the Licenfing that fainted Inquifition couldever 
yet contrive : which is what I promifed to deliver next : 
that this order of Licenfing conduces nothing to the end 
for which it was framed -, and hath almoft prevented 
me, by being clear already, while thus much hath been 
explaining. 

See the ingenuity of Truth ! who, when fhe gets 
a free and willing hand, opens herfelf fafter than" the 
pace of Method and Difcourfe can overtake her. It 
was the lafk which I began with, to fhow that no Nation 
or well-inftituted State, if they valued books at alb 
did ever ufe this way of Licenfing; and it might be 
anfwered, " that this is a piece of Prudence lately dif- 
covered." To which I return, that, as it was a thing 
flight and obvious to think-on, fo, if it had been diffi- 
cult to find-out, there wanted not among them long 
fince, who fuggefted fuch acourfe; which they not fol- 
lowing, leave us a pattern of their judgment, that it was 
not "the not knowing," but "the not approving," which 
nation of was the caufe of their not ufing it. Plato, (a man of 
says upon high authority indeed, but lead of all for his Com- 
in his book* monwealtb,) in the be ok of his Laws, (which no City 
DeRepul- eve r yet received,) fed his fancy with making many 
•Edicts to his airy burgomafters, which they who other- 
wife admire him, wifh had been rather buried and ex- 
cufed in the genial cups of an academic night-fitting. 
By which laws he feems to tolerate no Jrind of Learn- 
ing, but, by unalterable decree, confifting moft of prac- 
tical traditions, to the attainment whereof a library of 
fmaller bulk than his own Dialogues would be abun- 
dant. And there alfo cnacls, that no poet mould fo 
much as read to any private man what he had written, 

until 



An exami- 



211 



until the Judges and Law-keepers had feen it, and al- 
lowed it. But that Plato meant this law peculiarly to 
that Commonwealth which he had imagined, and to 
no other, is evident. Why was he not elfe a lawgiver 
to himfelf, but a tranfgrefibr, and to be expelled by 
his own magistrates, both for the wanton epigrams and 
dialogues which he made, and his perpetual reading of 
Sophron, Mimus, and Arillophanes, books of groffeft 
infamy ; and alfo for commending the latter of them, 
(though he were the malicious libeller of his chief 
friends,) to be read by the tyrant Dionyfius, who had 
little need of fuch trafh to fpend his time on ? But 
that he knew this Licenfing of poems had reference and 
dependance to many other provifoes, there fet-down in 
his fancied Republic, which in this world could have 
no place; and fo neither he himfelf, nor any Magiftrate, 
or City, ever imitated that courfe, which, taken apart 
from thofe other collateral injunctions, muft needs be 
vain and fruitlefs. For, if they fell upon one kind of 
ftrictnefs, unlefs their care were equal to regulate all 
other things of like aptnefs to corrupt the mind, that 
(ingle endeavour, they knew, would be but a fond la- 
bour; to (hut and fortify one gate againft corruption, 
and be neceflitated to leave others round-about wide- 
open. If we think to regulate printing, thereby to 
rectify manners, we muft regulate all recreations and 
paftimes, all that is delightful to man. No mufic 
muft be heard, no fong be fet, or fung, but what is grave 
and Doric. There muft be Licenfing dancers, that no 
gefture, motion, or deportment, be taught our youth, 
but what, by their allowance, (hall be thought honeft ; 
for fuch Plato was provided-of. It will a(k more than 
the work of twenty Licenfers to examine all the lutes, 
the violins, and guitars in every houfe; they muft not be 

p 2 fuflfered 



2i2 

fullered to prattle as they do, but mult be Licenfed 
what they may fay. And who {hall filence all the airs 
and madrigals that whifper foftnefs in chambers ? The 
windows alfo, and the balconies, mud be thought-on ;. 
there are fhrewd books, with dangerous frontifpieces, 
fet to fale; who (hall prohibit them ? fhall twenty Licen- 
ces ? The villages alfo muft have their vifitors to in- 
quire what lectures the bagpipe, and the rebec, reads, 
even to the ballatry and the gamut of every municipal 
fidler; for thefe a r e the countryman's Arcadias, and 
his Monte Mayors. Next, what more national cor- 
ruption, for which England hears -ill abroad, than 
houfehold-gluttony ? who (hall be the reclors of our 
daily rioting ? and what fhall be done to inhibit the 
multitudes, that frequent thofe houfes where drunken- 
nefs is fold and harboured ? Our garments alfo mould 
be referred to the Licenfing of fome more fober work- 
mafters, to fee them cut into a lefs wanton garb. 
Who fhall regulate all the mixed converfation of our 
vouth, male and female together, as is the fafhion of 
this country? Who mall ftill appoint what fhall be 
difcourfed, what prefumed, and no further ? Laftly^ 
"who fhall forbid and feparate all idle refort, all evil 
company ? Thefe things will be, and muft be. But 
how they (hall be leaft hurtful, how leaft enticing,, 
herein confifts the grave and governing wifdom of a 
State. To fequefter out of the world into Atlantic and 
Eutopian politics, which never can be drawn into 
ufe, will not mend our condition; but to ordain wife- 
ly, as in this world of evil, in the midft whereof God 
bath placed us unavoidably. Nor is it Plato's Licenfing 
of books will do this, which neceffarily pulls along with 
it fo many other kinds of Licenfing, as will make us all 
both ridiculous and weary, and yet fruflrate ; but thofe 

unwritten, 



213 

unwritten^ or, at leaft, unconftraining, laws of virtuous 
education, religious and civil nurture, which Plato n.B. 
there mentions, as the bonds and ligaments of the Com- 
monwealth, the pillars and the fofiainers of every 
written ftatute ; thefe they be, which will bear chief 
fway in fuch matters as thefe, when all Licenfing will 
be eafily eluded. Impunity and remiflnefs, for certain, 
are the bane of a Commonwealth : But here the great Art 
lies, " to difcern in what the law is to bid reftraint 
and punifhment, and in what things perfuafion only is N B{ 
to work " If every action which is goodorevil in man 
at ripe years, we're to be under pittance, prefcription, 
and coiripulfion, what were Virtue but a name ? what 
praife could be then due to well-doing ? what gramer- 
cy to be fober, juft, or continent? Many there be 
that complain of Divine Providence for fufTering Adam 
to tranfgrefs. Foolifh tongues ! when God gave him 
reafon, he gave him freedom to choofe ; for reafon is 
but choofing .; he had been elfe a mere artificial Adam, 
fuch an Adam as he is in the motions *.- We ourfelves 
efteem not of that obedieflce, or love, or gift, which is 
of force. God therefore left him free, and fet before him 
a provoking object, ever almoft in his eyes ; herein 
confided his merit, herein the right of his reward, the 
praife of his abftinence. Wherefore did he create paf- 
fions within us, pleafures round about us, but that 
thefe, rightly tempered, are the very ingredients of Vir- 
tue ? They are not Ikilful confiderers of human 
things, who imagine to remove fin, by removing the 
matter of fin; for, (befides that it is a huge heap, increaf- 
ing under the very act of diminifhing,) though fome 
part of it may, for a time, be withdrawn from fome per- 
sons, it cannot from all, in fuch a univerfal thing as 
books are 5 and, when this is done, yet the fin remains 

* That is, in puppet-shews. 

v 3 entire 



814 

entire. Though ye take from a covetous man all his 
treafure^ he has yet one jewel left ; ye cannot bereave 
him of his covetoufnefs. Banifh all objects of luft; 
fhut-up all youth into thefevereft difcipline that can be 
exereifed in any hermitage ; ve cannot make them 
chafte, that came not thither fo : fuch great care and 
wifdom is required to the right managing of this point. 
Suppofe we could expel fin by this means ; look, how 
much we thus expel of fin, fo much we expel of virtue ; 
for the matter of them both is the fame : remove that, 
and ye remove them both alike. This juftifies the high 
Providence of God ; who, though he commands us 
temperance, juftice, continence, yet pours- out before us, 
even to a profufenefs, all defirable things, and gives us 
minds that can wander bevond all limit and fatiety, 
Why mould we then affect a. rigour contrary to the 
manner of God and of nature, by abridging, or fcanting, 
thofe means, which books, freely permitted, are, both 
to the trial of virtue, and the exercife of truth ? It 
would be better done, to learn that the law muff, 
needs be frivolous, which goes to reftrain things, un- 
certainly, and yet equally, working to Good and to Evil. 
And, were I the choofer, a dram of well-doing mould 
be preferred * before many times as much the forcible 
hinderance of evil-doing. For God, fure, efteems the 
growth and compleating of one virtuous perfon, more 
than the reftraint often vicious. And, albeit whatever 
we hear or fee, fitting, walking, travelling, or con- 
verfing, may be fitly called our book, and is of the fame 
effect that writings are ; yet, grant the thing to be pro- 
r.ance hibitcd were only books, it appears that this Order hi- 
pnntins therto is far infufflcient to the end which it intends. 

Looks with- * This sent j IIient a or rees w ith t h at w hi c h is expressed by 
out a Li- TT . . r I, n • l J 

rense j s Horace in the t\vo following verses: 

pot suffici- Oderunt peccare Boni virtutis amore ; 

en' to pre- r fu nihil admittes in te formidine pcenas. 

Do 



2*5 

Do we not fee, not once or oftener, but weekly, that vent the 

printing en 

continued Court-libel againft the Parliament and City, seditious 
printed, (as the wet meets can witnefs,) and difperfed though that 
among us, for all that Licencing can do ? Yet this is ^ *^ 
the prime fervice, a man would think, wherein this Or- reason for 
der mould give proof of itfelf. "If :t were executed," 
you will fay. But certain, if execution be remifs, or 
blindfold, now, and in this particular, what will it be 
hereafter, and in other books ? If then the order (hall 
not be vain and fruftrate, behold a new labour, Lords 
and Commons ! ye mud repeal and profcribe all fcan- 
dalous and unlicenfed books already printed and divulg- 
ed : after ye have drawn them up into a lift, that all 
may know which are comdemned, and which not ; and 
[ye muft] ordain that no foreign books be deliverrd out 
of cuftody, till they have been read-over. This oflice 
will require the whole time of not a few overfeers, and 
thofe no vulgar men. There be alfo books which are 
partly ufeful and excellent, partly culpable and perni- 
cious ; this work will afk as many more Officials, to 
make expurgations and expunctions, that the com- To make it 
monwealth of learning be not damnified. In fine, effec tual, it 

° 7 must be 

when the multitude of books mcreafes upon their hands, formed 
ye muft be fain to catalogue all thofe printers who are U pTn the 7 
found frequently offending, and forbid the importation JJJ° d L- l ° f 
of their whole f ufpected typography. In a word, that sin s ord '- 

, • ^ i 10, , * . nances of 

this your Order may be exact, and not deficient, ye theinquisi- 
muft reform it perfectly according to the model of tl0n * 
Trent and Sevil ; which, I know, ye abhor to do. Yet, 
though ye mould condefcend to this, (which God for- 
bid!) the Order ftill would be but fruitlefs and defective These res- 
to that end whereto ye meant it. If to prevent feels [{^"[j^ 011 
and fchifms, who is fo unread, or uncatechifed, in ftory of the press 
that hath not heard of many fects refilling books a& a prevent the 
hindrance, and preferving their doctrine unmixed, for leca and 
p 4 many 



216 

Schisms, manv affes. only by unwritten traditions ? The chrif- 

uor contn- . J . 

bute'toihe tian faith, (for that was once a Schifm !) is not un- 
amend- 
•ment of the known to have fpread all over Afia, er6 any Gofpel or 

the^eopie. Epiftle was feen in writingi If the amendment of man- 
ners be aimed-at, look into Italy and Spain, whether 
thofe places be one fcruple the better, the honefter, the 
wifer, the chatter, flnce all the Inquifitional rigour 
that hath been executed upon books. 

it is almost Another reafon, whereby to make it plain that this 

impossible . . -> 

to find per- Order will mifs the end it feeks, confider by the quali- 
ty quaked tv w$ttch ough^ to be in every Licenfer. It cannot be 

tobeLicen- d en [ e d but ^ nat ne w ho \ s rnade judge to fit upon 
sers, tnat ? J id r 

vviii under- the birth or death of books, whether they may be 
fice. wafted into this world or not, had need to be a man, 

above the common meafure, both iiudious, learned, 
and judicious : there may be elfe no mean miftakes in 
the cenfure of what is paffable, or not ; which is alfo 
no mean injury. If he be of fuch worth as behoves 
him, there cannot be a more tedious and un'pleafing 
journeyw T ork, a greater lofs of lime levied upon his 
head, than to be made the perpetual reader of uncho- 
fen books and pamphlets, oft^iimes huge volumes. There 
is no book that is acceptable, unlefs at certain feafons ; 
but to be enjoined the reading of that at all times, 
and in a hand fcarce legible, whereof three pages 
would not down at any time in the faireft print, is an 
impofition which I cannot believe how he that values 
time, and his own ftudies, or is but of a fenfible nof- 
tril, lhould be able to endure. In this one thing I 
crave leave of the prefent Licenfers to be pardoned for 
fo thinking 5 who, douhtlefs, took this office up, look- 
ing on it through their obedience to the Parliament ; 
whofecommand, perhaps, made all things feem eafyand 
unlaborious to them. But that this fhort trial hath 
weaned them out already, their own expreffions and 

excufes, 



att 

excufes, to them who make fo many journeys to follicit 
their Licence, are teftimony enough, Seeing therefore 
that thofe who nowpoffefs the employment, by all evident 
%ns, wifh themfelves well rid of it, and that no man 
of worth, none that is not a plain unthrift of his own 
hours, is ever likely to fucceed them, except he mean 
to put himfelf to the falar\ of a prefs-corrector ; we 
may eafily forefee what kind of Licenfers we are to 
expecl: hereafter; either ignorant, imperious, and 
remifs, or bafely pecuniary. This is what I had to 
mow, wherein this Order cannot conduce to that end, 
whereof it bears the intention. 

I laftly proceed from the no good it can do, to the The °r di * 
manifejl hurt it caufes, in being, firft, the greatest dif- against 
couragement and affront that can be offered to Learning bookswith- 
and to Learned men. It was the complaint and lamenta- out a li_ 

1 . cense, is a 

tion of Prelates, upon every the lead breath of a motion great dis- 
to remove Pluralities, and diltribute more equally the n °ent m*" 
Church-revenues, " that then all Learning; would be for Lear ? in s 

' D and Learn- 

ever dallied and difcouraged." But as for that opinion, ed men. 

I never found cauie to think, that the tenth part of 
Learning flood, or fell, with the Clergy : nor could I ever 
but hold it for a fordid and unworthy fpeech of any 
Churchman, who had a competency left him. If there- 
fore ye be loth to difhearten utterly and difcontent, 
hot the mercenary crew of falfe pretenders to learning, 
but the free and ingenuous fort of fuch as evidently 
were born to ftudy and love Learning for itfelf, not for 
lucre, or any other end, but the fervice of God and of 
Truth, and perhaps that lafting Fame and perpetuity of 
praife, which God and good men have confented mall 
be the reward of thofe, whofe publifhed Labours ad- 
vance the good of mankind ; then know, that fo far 
to diftruft the judgment and the honefty of one who 

hath 



218 

hath but a common repute in learning, and never yet 
offended, as not to count him fit to print his mind 
without a Tutor and Examiner, left he mould drop a 
fchifm, or fomething of corruption, h the greateft dif- 
pleafure and indignity to a free and knowing fpirit, 
that can be put upon him. What advantage is it to 
be a man, over it is to be a l^oy at fchool, if we have 
only efcaped the ferula, to come under the fefcue of an 
Imprimatur ? If ferious and elaborate writings, as if 

N g they were no more than the theme of a grammar-lad 
under his pedagogue, muft not be uttered without the 
curfory eyes of a temporizing and extemporizing 
Licenfcr ? He who is not trufted with his own actions, 
his drift not being known to be evil, and ftanding to 
the hazard of law and penalty, has no great argument 
to think himfelf reputed in the commonwealth where- 
in he was born, for other than a fool or a foreigner. 
When a man writes to the world, he fummons-up all 
his reafon and deliberation to affift him ; he fearches 
meditates, is induftrious, and likely confults and con- 
fers with his judicious friends; after all which done, 
he takes himfelf to be informed in what he writes, as 
well as any that writ before him ; if in this, the moft 
confummate aft of his fidelity and ripenefs, no years, 
no induftry, no former proof of his abilities, can bring 
him to that ftate of maturity, as not to be ftill mif- 
trufted and fufpec~f.ed, unlefs he carry all his confide- 
rate diligence, all his midnight watching, and expenfe 

N - B; of Palladian oil, to the hafty view of an unleifured Licen- 
ser, perhaps much his younger, perhaps far his inferior 
in judgment, perhaps one who never knew the 
labour of book-writing ; and, if he be not repulfed, or 
(lighted, muft appear in print like a puny with his 
Guardian, and his Cenfor's hand on the back of his 

title, 



219 



title, to be his bail and furety, that he is no ideot or 
feducer ; it cannot be but a diftionour and derogation 
to the author, to the book, to the privilege and digni- 
ty of Learning. And what if the author (hall be one 
fo copious of fancy, as to have many things, well worth 
the adding, come into his mind after Licencing, while 
the book is yet under the prefs, (which not feidom 
happens to the beft and diligenteft writers ;) and that 
perhaps a dozen times in one book ? The printer 
dares not go beyond his Licenfed copy; fo often then 
muft the author trudge to his Leave-giver, that thofe 
his new infertions may be viewed ; and many a jaunt 
will be made, 'ere that Licenfer, (for it muft be the fame 
manj) can either be found, or found at leifure. Mean 
while either the prefs muft ftand ftill, (which is no fmall 
damage,) or the author lofe his accurateft thoughts, and 
fend the book forth worfe than he had made it ; which 
to a diligent writer is the greateft melancholy and 
vexation that can befall. And how can a man teach 
with authority, which is the life of teaching; how can 
he be a doctor in his book (as he ought to be, or elfe 
had better be filent,) whenas all he teaches, all he 
delivers, is but under the tuition, under the correction 
of his patriarchal Licenfer, to blot or alter what preciie- 
ly accords not with the hide-bound humour which 
he calls his judgment ? When every acu'e reader, 
upon the firft fight of a pedantic Licence, will be ready, 
with thefe-like words, to ding the book a coit's diftance 
from him, " I hate a pupil teacher, I endure not an 
inftructor that comes to me under the wardship of an 
over-feeing fift. I know nothing of the Licenfer, but 
that I have his own hand here for his arrogance; who 
fhall warrant me his Judgement ?" " The State, fir," 
replies the ftationer : but has a quick return, " the State 

(hall 



N. B, 



N. B- 



220 

fliall be my Governors, but not my Critics ; they may 
be miftaken in the choice of a Licenfer, as eafilyas this 
Licenfer may be miftaken in an author. This is fome 
common fluff;" and he might add from fir Francis 
Bacon, that "fuch authorized books are but the Ian* 
N. B. guage of the times." For, though a Licenfer mould 
happen to be judicious more than ordinary, (which will 
be a great jeopardy of the next fuccefiion,) yet his 
very office, and his commiffion, enjoins him to let pafs 
nothing but what is vulgarly received already. Nay, 
which is more lamentable, if the work of any deceafed 
author, (though never fo famous in his lifetime, and 
even to this day,) comes to their hands for Licence to 
be printed, or reprinted, if there be found in his book 
one fentence of a venturous edge, uttered in the 
height of zeal, (and who knows whether it might not 
be the dictate of a divine fpirit ?) yet not fuiting with 
every low, decrepit, humour of their own, (though it 
were Knox himfelf, the reformer of a. kingdom, that 
fpake it,) they will not pardon him their dam; the 
fenfe of that great man mail to all pofterity be loft, for 
the fearfulnefs, or the prefumptuous rafhnefs, of a per- 
functory Licenfer. And to what an author this 
violence hath been lately done, and in what book of 
greateft confequeiice to be faithfully publifhed, I could 
now inftance, but (hall forbear till a more convenient 
feafon. Yet, if thefe things be not refented ferioufly and 
timely by them who have the remedy in their power, 
but that fuch iron-moulds as thefe (hall have authority 
to gnaw -out the choicer!; periods of exquifiteft books, 
and to commit fuch a treacherous fraud againft the 
orphan remainders of worthier!: men after death, the 
more forrow will belong to that haplefs race of men, 
whofe misfortune it is to have underftanding. Hence- 
forth 



221 

forth let no man care to learn, or care to be more 
than worldly-wise ; for, certainly, in higher matters to 
be ignorant and flothful, to be a common, fteadfaft, 
dunce, will be the only pleafant life, and only in requeft. 

And, as it is a particular difefteem of every knowing Th ; sres . 
perfon alive, and rnoft injurious to the written labours train* is an 

r ' J indignity 

and monuments of the dead, fo to me it feems an offered to 
undervaluing and vilifying of the whole Nation. T people of 

England, 
suppos- 

them to 
so igno- 



cannot fet fo light by all the Invention, the Art, the £'" 
Wit, the grave and folid Judgment, which is in Eng- jnj 
land, as that it can be comprehended in any twenty rant, weak 
capacities, how good foever ; much lefs that it fhould dy, as to be 
not pafs, except their fuperintendence be over it, — except Jj^jJJS of 
it be fifted and drained with their drainers,— that it astray, by 

every new 

fhould be uncurrent without their manual ftamp. book that 
Truth and Underftanding are not fuch wares as to be ' e s d ^ u 
monopolized and traded-in by tickets, and ftatutes, 
and ftandards. We muft not think to make a ftaple 
commodity of all the Knowledge in the land, to mark 
and Licenfe it like our broad-cloth and our woolpacks. 
What is it but a fervitude, like that impofed by the 
Phiiiftines, not to be allowed the fharpening of our 
own axes and coulters, but we muft repair from all 
quarters to twenty Licenfmg forges ? Had any one 
written and divulged erroneous things and fcandalous 
to honeft life, mifufing and forfeiting the efteem had 
of his reafon among men, — if, after conviction, this 
only cenfure were adjudged him, a that he fhould never 
henceforth write, but what were firft examined by an 
appointed officer, whofe hand fhould be annexed to 
pafs his credit for him, that now he might be fafely 
read ?' it could no* be apprehended lefs than adifgrace- 
ful punifhment. Whence, to include the whole Na- 
tion, and thofe that never yet thus offended, under fuch 

a diffident 



a diffident and fufpectful prohibition, may plainly be 
underftood what a difparagement it is. So much the 
more, whenas debtors and delinquents may walk-abroad 
without a keeper, but unoffensive books muft not ftir-, 
forth without a vifible jailor in their title. Nor is it 
to the common people lefs than a reproach ; for, if we 
be fo jealous over them as that we dare not truft them 
with an Englifh pamphlet, what do we but cenfure 
them for a giddy, vicious, and ungrounded people ; in 
fuch a fick and weak eftate of faith and difcretion^ as 
to be able to take nothing down but through the pipe 
of a Licenfer ? That this is care, or love, of them, we 
cannot pretend ; whenas in thole Popifh places, where 
the laiety are mod hated and defpifed, the fame ftrict- 
nefs is ufed over them. Wifdom we cannot call it ; 
becaufe it flops but one breach of licence ; nor that 
neither : whenas thofe corruptions, which it feeks to 
prevent, break-in fafter at other doors, which cannot 

be {hut. 

It is also a 

disgrace to And in conclufion, it reflects to the difrepute of our 

ters bysup- m * ,n ift ers a ^ ^ of whole labours we mould hope better, 
posing anc } f t h e proficiency which their flock reaps by them, 

them not to r / ■ . . 

have so in- than that, afterall thisLight of the Gofpel which is, and 

their flocks IS t0 De > an d a ^ tms continual preaching, they fhould 

them inake f ^ e ^^ frequented with fuch an unprincipled, unedifi- 

against the ed, and la-ic, rabble, as that the whiff of every new 

bad bocks, pamphlet mould ftagger them out of their Catechifm 

and Chriftian walking. This may have much reafon 

to difcourage the minifters, when fuch a low conceit is 

had of all their exhortations, and the benefiting of 

their hearers, as that they are not thought fit to be 

turned loofe to three flieets of paper without a Licenfer; 

that all the fermons, all the lectures, preached, printed, 

and vended, in fuch numbcrs,and fuch volumes, as have 

now 



223 

now well-nigh made all other books unfaleable, mould 
not be armour enough againft one fingle Enchiridion, 
without the caftle of St. Angelo of an. Imprimatur* 

And, left fome mould perfuade ye, Lords and Com- 
mons, that thefe arguments of learned men's difcou- 
ragement at this your Order are mere flouri flies, and 
not real, I could recount what I have feen and heard 
in other countries, where this kind of Inquifition 
tyrannizes; when I have fat among their learned The leam- 
men, (for that honour I had,) and been counted J?.,™™. * 
happy to be born in fuch a place of Philofophic free- men ted the 

1 J l * restraints 

dom, as they fuppofed England was, while themfelves upon the 
did nothing but bemoan the fervile condition into jh^pJea 
which Learning amongft them was brought; — that this J v j" ch *ey 
was it which had damped the glory of Italian wits ; under, and 

, i-iii i y r consideredit 

— that nothing had been there written now thefe many as the cause 

years but flattery and fuftian. There it was that I s^of™ 

found and vifited the famous Galileo, grown-old, a learning 

. among 

priioner to the Inquifition, for thinking in Aftronomy them, 

other wife than the Francifcan and Dominican Licenfers 
thought. And, though I knew that England then was 
groaning loudeft under the Prelatical yoke, neverthe- 
lefs I took it as a pledge of future happinefs, that 
other nations were fo perfuaded of her Liberty. Yet 
was it beyond my hope, that thofe worthies were then 
breathing in her air, who fhould be her leaders to 
fuch a deliverance, as (hall never be forgotten by any 
revolution of time that this world hath to finifh. 
When that was once begun, it was as little in my 
fear, that what words of complaint I heard among 
learned men of other parts uttered 2gainft the Inquifi- 
tion, the fame I mould hear by as learned men at That the 
, i • i • r n i- • n like com- 

home uttered in the time of Parliament againit an plaint is 

Order of Licenfing ; and that fo generally, that, when I [S^ade 

had 



224 

by the had difclofed myfelf a companion of their difcontenr, 
men of I might, fay, (if without envy,) that he whom an honeft 
n§an ' Quaeftorfhip had endeared to the Sicilians, was not 
more by them importuned againft V r erres, than the 
favourable opinion which I had among many who 
honour ye, and are known and refpe&ed by ye, load- 
ed me with entreaties and perfuafions, that I would 
not defpair to lay- together that which juft reafon 
(hould bring into my mind, toward the removal of an 
undeferved thraldom upon Learning. That this is not 
therefore the disburdening of a particular fancy, but 
the common grievance of all thofe who had prepared 
their minds and ftudies above the vulgar pitch, to 
advance truth in others, and from others to entertain 
it, thus much may fatisfy. And, in their name, I {hall, 
for neither friend nor foe, conceal what the general 
murmur is ; that, if it come to Inquifitioning again, 
and Licenfing, and that we are fo timorous of our- 
felves, and fufpicious of all men, as to fear each book, 
and the making of every leaf, before we know what 
This res- the contents are ; if fome who, but of late, were little 
pTiming^s netter tnan filenced from preaching, (hall come now 
a species of t filence us from reading, except what thev pleafe, it 

tyranny si- . . / 

milarto cannot be guefled what is intended by fome but a 

the people fecond tyranny over Learning : and will foon put it 

defth e d iate : out °^ contr °verfy, that Bifhops and Prefbyters are the 

Bishops, fame to us, both name and thing. That thofe evils of 

Prelaty which before, from five or fix and twenty fees, 

were diftributively charged upon the whole people, 

will now light wholly upon Learning, is notobfcure to 

us: whenas now the paftor of a fmall, unlearned, parifh, 

on the fudden mail be exalted Archbifhop over a large 

diocefe of books, and yet not remove, but keep his 

other cure too, a myftical pluralift. He who but of 

late 



225 

late cried-down the fole ordination of every novice 
bachelor of art, and denied fole juridicYion over the 
fimpleft parifhioner, (hall now, at home in his private 
chair, affume both thefe over worthier! and excellenteft 
books, and ableft authors that write them. This is 
not, ye Covenants and Proteftations that we have 
made ! this is not to put-down Prelaty ; this is but to 
chop an Epifcopacy ; this is but to tranflate the palace 
Metropolitan from one kind of dominion into another 9 
this is but an old Canonical flight of commuting our 
penance. To ftartle thus betimes at a mere unlicenfed 
pamphlet, will, after a while, be afraid of every Con- 
venticle : and, a while after, will make a Conventicle of 
every Chriftian meeting. But I am certain, that a 
Stale governed by the rules of juftice and/ortitude, or 
a Church built and founded upon the rock of faith and 
true knowledge, cannot be fo pufillanimous. While 
things are yet not conftituted in religion, that freedom 
of writing fhould be reftrained by a difcipline imitated 
from the Prelates, and learned by them from the 
Jnquifition, to Unit us up all again into the breaft of a 
Licenfer, muft needs give caufe of doubt and difcourage- 
ment to all learned and religious men : who cannot * 
but difcern the finenefs of this politic drift, and who 
are the contrivers : that while Bifhops were to be r . 

.-'•"'" It is owing 

baited-down, then all preffes might be open ; it was to the pride 
the people's birthright and privilege in time of Parlia- euting C sp7rit 
ment; it was the breaking-forth of Light. But now, thepTesby- 
the Bi(hops abrogated and voided out of the church, terian cler ~ 
as if our reformation fought no more, but to make room 
for others [to enter] into their feats under another name; 
the Epifcopal arts begin to bud again ; the cruife of 
truth muft run no more oil ; liberty of printing muft 
be enthralled again under a Prelatical commiflion of 
<4 twenty ; 



226 

twenty; the Privilege of the people nullified'; and 
(which is worfe,) the freedom of Learning muft groan 
again, and to her old fetters : all this, the Parliament 
yet fitting. Although their own late arguments and 
defences again ft the Prelates might remember them, 
that this obftrucling violence meets, for the moft part r 
with an event utterly oppofite to the end which it 
drives-al:; inftead of fupprefiing Seels and Schifms, it 
raifes themy and invefts them with a reputation: u the 
punifhing of wits enhances their authority," faith the 
vifcount St. Albans ^ u and a? forbidden writing is 
thought to be a certain; fpark. of truth, that flies-up in 
the faces of them who feek to tread it out." Thi^ 
Order therefore may prove a nurfing-mother to Seels : 
but I fhall eaftly mow lk)w it will be a ftep-dame to 
truth : and, firft, by disenabling us to- the maintenance 
of what is known already. 
-. Well knows he who ufes-to-conffder, that our faith 

The pre- 7 

venting the ^d knowledge thrives bv exereife, as well 1 as our 

publication . >**<%.• • 

of new opi- limbs and complexion. Truth is compared in fenp- 
h ind ranee to ture to a learning Fountain ; if her -waters- flow not 
the know- j n a p er petual progreflion,, they fic&en into a muddy 
truth, and pool of conformity and tradition. A man may be & 
grounds on heretic in the truth ;. and if he believe things only 
built* 1 Jt IS Decau ^ e ms paftor fays fo, or the afTembly fo determines*, 
without knowing other reafon, though his belief be 
true, yet the very truth he holds becomes his herefy.. 
There is not any burden, that feme would gladlier poft- 
off to another, than the charge and care of their religi- 
on. There be, — who knows not that there be? of 
proteflants and profefibrs, who live and die in as errant 
Adescrip- an implicit faith, as any lay-papift of Loretto. A 
luxurious wealthy man, addicted to his pleafure and to his 
rkh ™™ profits, finds religion to be a traffic fo entangled, and 

o£ 



227 

of fo many piddling accounts, that, of all myfteries, he resigning 

himself 



cannot (kill to keep a flock going upon that trade, in matters 

of religion 
to the direc 
tion of a 
clergyman. 



What fhould he do? Fain he would have the name ° [he direc* 
to be religious ; fain he would bear-up with his neigh- tl< 
bours in that. What does he, therefore, but refolves 
to give-over toiling, and to find himfelf out fome 
factor, to whofe care and credit he may commit the 
whole 'managing of his religious affairs; fome divine 
of note and eftimation that muft be. To him he 
adheres, refigns the whole warehoufe of his religion, 
with all the locks and keys, into his cuftody; and 
indeed makes the very perfon of that man his religion; 
efteems his alTociating with him a fufficient evidence 
and commendatory of his own piety. So that a man 
may fay his religion is now no more within himfelf, 
but is become a dividual moveable, and goes and 
comes near him, according as that good man fre- 
quents the houfe. He entertains him, gives him 
gifts, feafts him, lodges him ; his religion comes 
home at night, prays, is liberally fupped, and fumptu- 
oufly laid to deep ; rifes, is faluted, and after the 
malmfey, or fome well-fpiced bruage, and better 
breakfafted than he whofe morning-appetite would have 
gladly fed on green figs between Bethany and Jerufa- 
lem; his religion walks-abroad at eight, and leaves his 
kind entertainer in the (hop, trading all day without 
his religion. 

Another fort there be, who, when they hear that all 4 

n general 

things fii all be ordered, all things regulated and fet- outward 
tied; nothing written but what partes through the wSingX 
cuflom-houfe of certain publicans, that have the ton- 231S5 
naging and poundaging of all free-fpoken truth ; will lence ' and 

-,.,.,„. l ' attended 

ftraightgive tnemlelves up into your hands ; make them with an in 
and cut them out what religion ye pleafe : there be mawereof " 

<* 2 recreations 



grow igno 
jant of 
the true 



228 

religion, recreations and jolly paftimes, that will fetch the day 

will be the « - r r , , , 

conse- about rrom iun to tun, and rock the tedious year as in 
this n res-° f a ddigbtfol dream. What need they torture their 
traintupon heads with that which others have taken, fo ftriclly, 

the liberty 

ofthepress, and fo unalterably, into their own purveying? Thefe 
Laiety; are the fruits, which a dull eafe and ceflation of our 
knowledge will bring- forth among the people. How 
goodly, and how to be wifhed, were fuch an obedient 
unanimity as this ? What a fine conformity would 
it ftarch us all into? Doubtlefs a (launch and folid 
piece of frame-work, as any January could freeze-toge- 
ther. 
And the Nor much better will be the confequence even 

W1 _ among the Clergy themfelves. It is no new thing never 
heard-of before, for a parochial minifter, who has his 
grounds of reward, and is at his Hercules Pillars in a warm bene- 
fice, to be eafily inclinable, if he have nothing elfe 
that may roufe-up his ftudies, to finifh his circuit in 
an Englifh concordance and a topic Folio, the gather- 
ings and favings of a fober graduatefhip, a Harmony 
and a Catena, treading the eonftant round of certain 
common doctrinal heads, attended with their ufes, 
motives, marks and means ; out of which, as out of 
an alphabet, or Sol Fa, by forming and transforming, 
joining and disjoining varioufly, a little book-craft, and 
two hours meditation, might furnifh him unfpeakably 
to the performance of more than a weekly charge of 
fermoning : not to reckon -up the infinite helps of in- 
terlinearics, breviaries, fynopfes, and other loitering 
gear. But, as for the multitude of fermons, ready-print- 
ed and piled-up, on every text that is not difficult, our 
London trading St. Thomas in his veftry , and add to 
boot St. Martin and St. Hugh, have not within their 
hallowed limits more vendible ware of all forts ready- 
made; 



229 

made : fo that penury be never need fear of pulpit-pro* 
virion, having where fo plenteoufly to refrefh his ma- 
gazine. But, if hi? rear and flanks be not impaled, if 
his back-door be not fecured by the rigid Licenfer, but 
that a bold book may now and then ifiue-forth, and 
give the affault to fome of his old collections in the 
trenches, it will concern him then to keep waking, to 
Rand in watch, to fet good guards and fentinels about 
his received opinions, to walk the round and counter- 
round with his fel low-in fpectors, fearing left any of his 
flock be feduced, who alfo then would be better in- 
ftructed, better exercifed and difciplined. And God fend 
that the fear of this diligence, which mud then be ufed, 
do not make us affect the lazinefs of aLicenfino; church! 

For, if we be fure we are in the right, and do not hold 
the truth guiltily, which becomes not j — if we ourfelves 
comdemn not our own weak and frivolous teaching, 
and the people for an untaught and irreligious, gadding, 
rout ; what can be more fair, than, when a man judi- 
cious, learned, and of a confeience, for aught we know, 
as good as theirs that taught us what we know, mall, 
not privily from houfeto houfe, (which is more dange- 
rous,) but openly by writing publifh to the world what 
his opinion is, what his reafons, and wherefore that 
which is now thought cannot be found ? Chrift urged 
it, as wherewith tojuflify himfelf, "that he preached in 
public ;" yet writing is more public than preaching; and 
more eafy to refutation, if need be, there being fo many 
whofe bufinefs and profeffion merely it is to be the 
champions of truth ; which if they neglect, what can 
be imputed but their floth or unability ? 

Thus much we are hindered and difinured, by this 

courfe of Licenfing, toward the true knowledge of what 

we feem to know. For how much it hurts and hiud- 

a 3 ers 



230 

„ ers the Licenfers themfelves in the calling of their mi- 
niftry, more than any fecular employment, if they 
will difcharge that office as they ought, (fo that of ne- 
ceffity they mud neglect, either the one duty or the 
other 5) I infill: not, becaufe it is a particular ; but leave 
it to their own confcience, how they will decide it 
there. 

There is yet behind of what I purpofed to lay-open, 
the incredible lofs and detriment that this plot of Li- 
cencing puts us to, more than if fome enemy at fea 
fhould ftop-up all our havens, and ports, and creeks ; 
it hinders and retards the importation of our richeft 
anerchandize, Truth : nay, it was fir ft eftablifhed and 
put in practice by Antichriftian malice and myftery on 
fet purpofe to extinguish, if it were poffible, the Light 
of Reformation, and to fettle Falfehood ; little differing 
from that policy wherewith the Turk upholds his AU 
coran, by the prohibiting of printing. It is not de- 
nied, but gladly confefled, we are to fend our thanks 
and vows to Heaven, louder than moft of nations, for 
that great meafure of Truth which we enjoy, efpecial- 
]y in thofe main points between us and the Pope, with, 
his appurtenances, the Prelates : but he who thinks we 
are to pitch our tent here, and have attained the ut- 
moft profpecT: of reformation, that the mortal glafs 
wherein we contemplate can (how us, till we come to 
beatific vifion | that man by this very opinion de^ 
clares, that he is yet far (hort of Truth. 
We ought Truth indeed came once into the world with her di- 

never to de- 
sist from vnie rnafter, and was a perfect fhape moft glorious to 

Jes after 1 look-on : but when he afcencted, and his Apoftles after 

avaino^-" 1 him were ^-aileep, then ftraight arofe a wicked race 

nion that f deceivers, who (as that ftory goes of the Egyptian 

we have ' r . , , , . . . , 

compieatly Typhon with his confpirators, how they dealt with the 
^ tainedt0 r good 



231 

good Ofyris,) took the virgin Truth, hewed her lovely 
form into a thoufand pieces, and fcattered them to the 
four winds. From that time ever fince, the fad friends 
of Truth, fuch as durft appear, imitating the careful 
fearch that Ifis made for the mangled body ofOfiris, 
went up and down gathering-up limb by limb, (till as they 
could find them. We have not yet found them all, 
Lords and Commons, nor ever nhall do, till her M'af- 
ter's fecond comings He (hall bring-together every 
joint and member, and fhall mould them into an im- 
mortal feature of lovetinefs and perfection. Suffer not 
thefe Licenfing prohibitions to ftand at every place of op- 
portunity forbidding and disturbing them that continue 
feeking, that continue to do our obfequi-es to the torn 
body of our martyred faint. We boaft our light; but 
if we look not wifely on the fun itfelf, it fmites us into 
darknefs. Who can difcern thofe planets that are oft 
combuft, and thofe ftars of brighteft magnitude that 
rife and fet with the fun, until the oppofite motion of 
their orbs bring them to fuch a place in the firmament, 
where they may be feen evening or morning ? The 
light which we have gained, was given, us, not to be 
ever ftaring-on, but by it to difcover onward things 
more remote from our knowledge. It is not the un- 
frocking of a prieft, the unmitring of a bilhop, and 
the removing him from off the prefbyterian moulders, 
that will make us a happy nation ; no, if other things 
as great in the church, and in the rule of life, both 
ceconomical and political, be not looked-into and re- 
formed, we have looked fo long upon the blaze that 
Zuinglius and Calvin have beaconed-up to us, that we 
are ftark-blind. There be who perpetually complain of 
Schifms and Seels, and make it fuch a calamity, that 
any man diflents from their maxims. It is their own 

Q 4 pride 



232 

pride and ignorance which caufes the difturbing; whc* 
neither will hear with meeknefs, nor can convince : 
yet all muft be fuppreffed which is not found in their 
Syntagma. They are the troublers, they are the divi- 
ders of unity, who neglect and permit not others to 
unite thofe duTevered pieces, which are yet wanting to 
the body of truth. To be ftill fearching what we know- 
not, by what we know, ftill clofing-up truth to truth 
as we find it, (for all her body is homogeneal, and 
proportional) this is the golden rule in theology as well 
as in arithmetic, and makes-up the beft harmony in a 
a church ; not the forced and outward union of cold, 
and neutral, and inwardly-divided, minds. 
Th E Lords and Commons of England ! confider what Na- 

lish nation tion it is whereof ye are, and whereof ye are the go- 
was always . . . 
remarkable vernors: a nation not flow and dull, but or a quick, m- 

loveoT genious, and piercing fpirit; acute to invent, fubtile 
knowledge and finewy to difcourfe ; not beneath the reach of any 
diligence point, the higheft that human capacity can foar-to. 
pursuit of Therefore the ftudies of Learning in her deepeft Sciences 
tmh * have been fo ancient, and fo eminent, among us, that 

writers of good antiquity and able judgment have 
been perfuaded, that even the fchool of Pythagoras, 
and the Perfian wifdom, took beginning from the old 
Philofophy of this iiland. And that wife and civil Ro- 
man, Julius Agricola, who governed once here for 
Caefar, preferred the natural wits of Britain, before the 
laboured ftudies of the French. Nor is it for nothing 
that the grave and frugal Tranfilvanian fends out year- 
ly from as far as the mountainous borders of Ruflia, 
and beyond the Hercynian wildernefs, not their youth, 
but their ftaid men, to learn our language, and our The- 
ologie arts. Yet that which is above all this, the fa- 
vour and the love of Heaven, we have great argument 

tQ 



S33 

to think in a peculiar manner propitious and propen cl- 
ing towards us. Why elfe was this nation chofen be- 
fore any other, that out of her, as out of Sion, fhould 
be proclaimed and founded -forth the flrft tidings and 
trumpet of Reformation to all Europe ? And had it 
not been the obftinate perverfenefs of our Prelates 
againfl the divine and admirable fpirit of WicklifF, to 
fupprefs him as a Schifmatic and Innovator, perhaps, 
neither the Bohemian HiuTe and Jerom, no nor the 
name of Luther or of Calvin, had been ever known : 
the glory of reforming all our neighbours had been 
completely ours. But now, as our obdurate Clergy 
have with violence demeaned the matter, we are be- 
come hitherto the lateft and the backwardefl fcholars [of 
thofe] of whom God offered to have made us the teachers. 
Now once again, by all concurrence of figns, and by 
the general inftincl of holy and devout men, as they 
daily and folemnly exprefs their thoughts, God is de- 
creeing to begin fome new and great period in his 
church, even to the reforming of Reformation itfelf; 
what does he then but reveal himfelf to his fervants, 
and, as his manner is, flrft, to his Englifhmeri ? I fay 
as his manner is, firfl to us, though we mark not the 
method of his counfels, and are unworthy. Behold ^ononhe 
now this vaft city; a city of refuse, the manfion- zeal and 

eagerness 

houfe of liberty, encompaffed and furrounded with his with which 
protection. The (hop of war hath not there more anvils num berof 
and hammers waking, to fafhion-out the plates and P eo P le \ hcn 

07 * in London 

inftruments of armed Juftice in defence of beleagucr'd werc stud 7- 
Truth, than there be pens and heads there, fitting by aminingthe 
their ftudious lamps, mufing, fearching, revolving lc ii^ion. 
new notions and ideas, wherewith to prefent, as with 
their homage and their fealty, the approaching Refor- 
mation: others as faft, reading, trying all things, aflcht- 



cnL 



234 

ing to the force of reafon and convincement. What 
could a man require more from a nation fo pliant and 
fo prone to feek after knowledge ? What wants there 
to fuch a towardly and pregnant foil, but wife and 
faithful labourers, to make a knowing people, a nation 
of prophets, of fages, and of worthies ? We reckon 
more than five months yet to harveft ; there need not 
be five weeks, had we but eyes to lift-up, the fields 

_. . , are white already. Where there is much defire to 

Diversity of J 

opinions learn, there of neceffity will be much arguing:, much 

will arise . . . . . . ^ 

hence, but writing, many opinions ; tor opinion in good men is 
to bees- but knowledge m the making. Under thefe fantaflic 
teemed an terrours of Sect and Schifm, we wrong the earnefl and 
zealous thirft after knowledge and underftanding, 
which God hath flirred-up in this city. What fome 
lament of, we rather mould rejoice at, mould rather 
praife this pious forwardnefs among men, to reaffume 
the ill-deputed care of their religion into their own 
hands again. A little generous prudence, a little for- 
bearance of one another, and fome grain of Charity, 
might win all thefe diligencies to join and unite into 
one general and brotherly fearch after truth ; could we 
but forego this Prelatical tradition of crowding free 
conferences and Chriftian liberties into Canons and pre- 
cepts of men. I doubt not, if fome great and worthy 
Granger mould come among us, wife to difcern the 
mould and temper of a people, and how to govern it, 
obferving the high hopes and aims, the diligent alacri- 
ty of our extended thoughts and reafonings in the pur- 
fuance of truth and freedom, but that he would cry-out, 
as Pyrrhus did, admiring the Roman docility and cou- 
rage j ff if fuch were my Epirots, I would not defpair the 
greateft defign that could be attempted to make a church, 
or kingdom, happy." Yet thefe are the men cried* 

out 



235 



out againfl; for Schifmatics and Sectaries, as if, while 
tlie temple of the Lord was building, fome cutting, 
fome fquaring the marble, others hewing the cedars, 
there (hould be a fort of irrational men, who could 
not coniider there muft be many fchifms and many 
directions made in the quarry and in the timber, ere 
the houfe of God can be built. And when every ftone 
is laid artfully together, it cannot be united into a con- 
tinuity, it can but be contiguous, in this world : neither 
can every piece of the building be of one form ; nay, 
rather the perfection confifts in this, that out of many 
moderate varieties and brotherly diffimilitudes, (that are 
not vaflly difproportional,) arifes the goodly and the 
graceful fymmetry that commends the whole pile and 
itructure. Let us therefore be more confiderate build- 
ers, more wife in fpiritual architecture, when great re- 
formation is expected. For now the time feems come 
wherein Mofes, the great prophet, may fit in Heaven 
rejoicing to fee that memorable and glorious wi(h of his 
fulfilled, when not only our feventy elders, but all the 
Lord's people are become prophets. No marvel then, 
though fome men, and fome good men too, perhaps, 
but young in goodnefs, as Jofhua then was, envy them. 
They fret and, out of their own weaknefs, are in agony, 
left thefe divifions and fubdivifions will undo us. The 
adverfary again applauds, and waits the hour ; u when 
they have branched themfelves out, faith he, fmall 
enough into parties and partitions, then will be our 
time." Fool! he fees not the firm root, out of which 
we all grow, though into branches; nor will beware 
until he fee our fmall divided maniples cutting through 
at every angle of his ill-united and unwieldly brigade. 
And that we are to hope better of all thefe fuppofed 
Seels and Schifms ; and that we (hall not need that folli- 

citude, 



236 

«itude, (honeft perhaps, though over-timorous,) of them 
that vex in this behalf, but mall laugh, in the end, at 
thofe malicious applauders of our differences, I have 
thefe reafons to perfuade me. 
The great Firft, when a city mall be, as it were, befieged and 
tranquillity blocked-about, her navigable river infefted. inroads and 

©t the peo- ..„.,■ ° 

pie m Lon- incurfions round, defiance and battle oft rumoured to 
though in De marching-up,even to her walls and fuburb-trenches; 
war^nd f ^ at l ^ en ^ tne people, or the greater part, more than 
danger, and at other times, wholly taken-up with the ftudy of 

their earn- , /■ . J r ' 

est aupiica- higheii and molt important matters to be reformed, 
businessof m0L, ld be difputing, reasoning, reading, inventing, dif- 
reforma- courfing, even to a rarity and admiration, things not 

tion, are D . J °. 

proofsof before difcourfed or written of, argues, firft, a lingular 

dence in " good-will, contentednefs, and confidence in your pru- 

^ ei !v! ead " dent forefight, and fafe government, Lords and Com- 
ers, the two o ' o 

houses of mons: and from thence derives itfelf to a gallant 

Parliament, , • . ° . 

anda strong bravery and well-grounded contempt or their enemies, 
InaTvk:- a as ^ l ^ ere were no nna ^ number of as great fpirits 
t0{ y- among us, as his was who, when Rome was nigh 

befieged by Hannibal, being in the city, bought that 
piece of ground at no cheap rate, whereon Hannibal 
himfelf encamped his own regiment. Next, it is a 
lively and cheerful prefage of our happy fuccefs and 
victory. For, as in a body, when the blood is frcfli, the 
fpirits pure and vigorous, not only to vital, but to rati- 
onal, faculties, and thofe in the acuteft, and the perteft 
operations of wit and fubtlety, it argues in what good 
plight and conftitution the body is ; fo when the cheer- 
fulnefs of the people is fo fprightly up, as that it has 
not only wherewith to guard well its own freedom and 
fafety, but to fpare, and to bsftow upon the folideft and 
fublimeft points of controverfy and new invention, it 
betokens us not degenerated, nor drooping to a fatal 

dec ay s 



N. 



23? 



decay, by cafting-ofFtbe old and wrinkled fkln of cor- 
ruption, to outlive thefe pangs, and wax young again, 
entering the glorious ways of truth and profperous vir- 
tue, deftined to become great and honourable in thefe 
latter ages. Methinks I fee in my mind a noble and 
puiffant Nation roufing herfelf like a ftrong man after 
fleep, and making her invincible locks : methinks I fee 
her as an eagle, muing her mighty youth, and kindling 
her undazzled eyes, at the full midday beam ; purging 
and unfcaling her long-abufed fight at the fountain 
itfelf of heavenly radiance ; while the whole noife of 
timorous and flocking birds, with thofe alfo that love 
the twilight, flutter-about, amazed at what me means, 
and, in their envious gabble, would prognofticate a year 
of Seels and Schifms. 

What fhould ye do then ? mould ye fupprefs all this n. B. 
flowery crop of knowledge and new light fprung-up and 
yet fpringing daily in this city ? Should ye fet an oli- 
garchy of twenty Engroffers over it, to bring a famine 
upon our minds again, when we fhall know nothing but 
what is meafured to us by their bufbel? Believe it, 
Lords and Commons ! they who counfel ye to fuch a N. B. 
fuppreffing, do as good as bid ye fupprefs yourfelves ; 
and I will foon (how how. If it be defired to know 
the immediate caufe of all this free-writincr and free- . ' , 

o A hue ana. 

fpeaking, there cannot be aiflgned a truer than your j»-t com- 

. . pliment to 

own mild, and tree, and humane government; it is thePariia- 
the Liberty, Lords and Commons, which your own ment * 
valorous and happy counfels have purchafed us ; Liber- 
ty, which is the nurfe of all great wits: This is that 
which hath rarefied and enlightened our fpirits like 
the influence cf Heaven ; This is that which hath 
enfranchifed, enlarged, and lifted-up our apprehenfions 
degrees above themfelves. Ye cannot make us now N. B, 

lefe 



238 

lefs capable, lefs knowing, lefs eagerly purfuing of the 
truth, nnlefs ye firit make yonrfelves, that made us fo^ 
lefs the lovers, lefs the founders, of our true Liberty. 
We can grow ignorant again, brutifti, formal, and 
flavifh, as ye found us; but you then mult, firft, become 
that which ye cannot be, oppreffive, arbitrary and 
tyrannous, as they were from whom ye have freed us. 
That our hearts are now more capacious, our thoughts 
more erecled to the fearch and expectation of greater! 
and exacleft things, is the ifTue of your own virtue 
propagated in us ; ye cannot fupprefs that, unlefs ye 
re-inforce an abrogated and mercilefs law^ that fathers 
may difpatch at will their own children. And who 
(ball then (lick clofeft to ye and excite others ? Not he 
who takes-up arms for coat and conduct, and his four 
nobles of Danegelt. Although I difpraife not the de- 
fence of juft immunities, yet love my peace better, if 
that were all. Give me the liberty to know, to utter, 
and to argue freely according to confcience, above all 
liberties. 

What would be beft-advifed then, if it be found fo 
hurtful and fo unequal to fupprefs opinions for the 
newnefs, or the unfuitablenefs to a cuftomary accept- 
ance, will not be my tafk to fay ; I dial 1 onlv repeat 

Thelatc \ I / Li 

worthy what I nave learned from one or your own honourable 
was d f B op°- C number, a right-noble and pious Lord, who had he not 
nion that facrificed his life and fortunes to the church and com- 

diffcrent 

Sectsofreli- monwealth, we had not now mined and bewailed a 
tobetofera- worthy and undoubted patron of this argument. Ye 
ted ' know him, I amfure; yet I, for honour's fake, (and may 

it be eternal to him !) (hall name him, the Lord Brook. 
He, writing of Epifcopacy, and, by the way, treating of 
Sefts and Schifms, left ye his vote, or, rather now, the 
laft words of his dying charge, which I know will ever 

be 



23$ 

be of dear and honoured regard with ye, fo full of 
meeknefs and breathing charity, that, next to His laft 
teftament who bequeathed Love and Peace to his dif- 
ciples, I cannot call to mind where I have read, or 
heard, words more mild and peaceful. He there ex- 
horts us lC to hear with patience and humility thofe, 
(however they be mifcalled,) thatdefire to live purely, 
in fuch a ufe of God's ordinances, as the beft guidance 
of their confidence gives them, and to tolerate them, 
though in fome difconformity to ourfelves. ,r The book 
itfclf will tell us more at large, being publifhed to the 
world, and dedicated to the Parliament by him, who> 
both for his life and for hi* death, deferves, that what 
advice he left be not laid -by without perufalv 

And now the time in fpecial is, by privilege to write it is more 
and fpeak what may help to the further difcuffing of [-JS^ta * 
matters in agitation. The temple of Janus, wtth his jjjj^*?* 
two controverfal faces, might now not unfignificantly mation of 
fee fet-open. And, though all the winds of do&rine ye t in agita- 
were let loofe to play upon the earth, fo Truth be in S^S^T" 
the field, we do injurioufly, by Licenfing and prohibi- to permit 
ting, to mifdoubt herftrength. Let her and Falfhood lish their 
grapple ; who ever knew Truth put to the worfe, in a without re~ 
free and open encounter } Her confuting is the beft stramU 
and fureft fuppreurng. He who hears what praying 
there is for light and clear knowledge to be ferat-down 
among us, would think of other matters to be confti- 
tuted beyond the difcipline of Geneva, framed and fa- 
bricked already to our hands. Yet, when the new 
light which we beg for, ftiines-in upon us, there be 
who envy and oppofe, if it come not firft in at their 
cafements. What a collufton is this, whenas we are 
exhorted by the wife man to ufe diligence, " to feek 
for wifdom as for hidden treafures" early and late, that 

another 



240 

another order (hall enjoin us, to know nothing but by 
ftatute? When a man hath been labouring the hard- 
eft labour in the deep mines of knowledge, hath fur- 
nifhed-out his findings in all their equipage, dravvn- 
forih his reafons as it were a battle ranged, fcattered 
and defeated all objections in his way, calls-out his ad- 
verfary into the plain, offers him the advantage of 
wind and fun, if he pleafe, only that he may try the 
matter by dint of argument ; for his opponents then 
to fculk, to lay ambufhments, to keep a narrow bridge 
of Licenfing where the challenger mould pafs, though it 
be valour enough in fokiierlhip, is but weaknefs and 
cowardice in the wars of Truth. For who knows not 
that Truth is ftrong, next to the Almighty ? (lie needs 
no policies, nor ftratagems, nor licenfings, to make 
her victorious : Thofe are the fhifts and the defences 
that Error ufes again ft her power ; Give her but 
room, and do net bind her when (lie deeps : for 
then fhe fpeaks not true, (as the old Proteus did, who 
fpake oracles only when he was caught and bound,) 
but then rather fhe turns herfelf into all (hapes, ex- 
cept her own, and perhaps tunes her voice according 
to the time, (as Micaiah did before Ahab,) until fhe be 
adjured into her own likenefs. Yet is it not impoffi- 
ble that me may have more (hapes than one. What 

Many if j s a jj tna t ran k f things indifferent, wherein Truth 

things are o JJ > 

in thdr na- m av be on this fide, or on the other, without being 
ferent, and unlike herfelf? What but a vain fhadow dk is the 
L opinfon 6 abolition of " thofe ordinances, that hand-writing 

concerning na j] ec j to the crofs ? what great purchafe is this Chrifti- 

theni ougnt _ _ - * 

tobe per- an liberty which Paul fo often boafts of ? His doc- 
trine is, that he who eats or eats not, regards a day or 
regards it not, n ay do either to the Lord. How many 
-other things might be tolerated in peace, and left to 

conference, 



241 



conference, had we but chanty, and were it not ihe 
chief ftrong- hold of our hypocrify to be ever judging 
one another ? I fear yet this iron yoke of outward 
conformity hath left a ilavifh print upon our necks 5 
the ghoft of a linen decency yet haunts us. We Hum- 
ble, and are impatient, at the leaft dividing of one 
vifible congregation from another, though it be not in 
fundamentals ; and through our forwardnefs to fupprefs, 
and our backwardnefs to recover, any enthralled piece 
of truth out of the gripe of cuftom, we care not to keep 
truth feparated from truth, which is the flerceft rent 
and difunionof all. We do not fee, that while we flill 
affect, by all means, a right external formality, we may 
as foon fall again into a grofs conforming ftupidity, a 
Hark and dead congealment of " wood and hay and 
ftubble," forced and frczen together, which is more to 
the fudden degenerating of a church than many fubdi- 
chotomies of petty fchifms. Not that 1 can think 
well of every light feparation ; or that all in a church is 
to be expected " gold and filver and precious (tones :'* 
it is not pofiible for man to fever the wheat from the 
tares, the good fifh from the other fry ; that mufr. be 
the angels mini ftry at the end of mortal things. Yet 
if all cannot be of one mind, (as w r ho looks they {houlcj 
be ?) this doubtlefs is more wholefome, more prudent, 
and morechriftian, that many be tolerated rather than 
all compelled. I mean not tolerated popery and open 
superstition*, which as it extirpates all religions and civil 
iupremacies, fo itfelf fhould be extirpate; provided^ 
flrft, that all charitable and companionate means be 
ufed to win and regain the weak and the mifled. That 
alfo which is impious, or evil, absolutely, either against 
faith or manners, no law can pofiibly permit, that 
intends not to unlaw itfelf: but thofe neighbouring 
R differences, 



212 

differences, or rather indifferences, are vvliat I fpeak of, 
whether in fome point of doctrine, or of difcipline, 
which though they may be many, yet need not inter- 
rupt the unity of fpirit, if we could but find among us 
bedfscover- ^ e k° n d °^ P^ ce ' In the mean while, if any one 

ed, but by vvould write, and brino- his helpful hand to the flow- 
slow de- : ' ° . 
grecs, by the moving reformation which we labour under, if truth 

munication nave fyoken to him before others, or but feemed at 

^ the u. Jeaft to fpeak, who hath fo bejefuited us, that we 

thoughts of r ' J s 

learned and (hould trouble that man with afktna* licence to do fo 

industrious . > ,.,~ 

men to the worthy a deed ; and not connder th/s, that if it come 
to prohibiting, there, is not aught more likely to be 
prohibited than truth itfelf : whofe firft appearance to 
our eyes, bleared and dimmed with prejudice and cuf- 
tom, is more unfightly and unplaufible- than many 
errours ; even as the perfon is of many a great man 
flight and contemptible to fee-to. And what do they 
tell us vainly of new opinions,; when this very opini- 
on of theirs, that nOne muft be heard but whom they 
like, is the word and rieweft opinion of all others ° f 
and is the chief caufe why Seels and Schifms do fo 
much abound, and true knowledge is kept at diftance 
from us ; beiides yet, a greater danger which is in it. 
For whea God (hakes a kingdom, with ftrong and 
healthful commotions, to a general reforming, it is not 
untrue that many feclraries and falfe teachers are then 
bufieft in fedueing. But yet more true it is, that God 
then raifes to his own work, men of rare abilities, and 
more than common induftry, rot only to look-back 
and revife what hath been taught heretofore, but to 
gain further, and go-on, fome new enlightened fteps in 
the difcovery of truth. For fuch is the order of God's 
enlightening his Church, to difpenfe and deal-out by 
degrees his beam, fo as our earthly eyes may heft 

fu (lain 



243 

fuftain it. Neither is God appointed and confined* 
where and out of what place thefe his chofen (hall be 
firft heard to fpeak; for he fees not as man fees, 
choofes not as man choofes, left we (hould devote our- 
felves again to fet-places, and affemblies, and outward- 
callings of men ; planting our faith one while in the 
old Convocation-houfe, and another while in the Cha- 
pel at Weftminfter ; when all the faith and religion 
that (hall be there canonized, is not fufficient without 
plain convincement. and the charity of patient inftruc- 
tion, to fupple the lead bruife of confcience, to edify 
themeaneft chriftian, who defires to walk in the 
fpirit, and not in the letter of human truft, for all the 
number of voices that can be there made ; no, though 
Harry the Seventh himfelf there, with all his liege 
tombs about him, fhould lend them voices from the 
dead to fwell their number. And, if the men be errone- 
ous who appear to be the leading Schifmatics, what 
withholds us but our floth, our felf-will, and diftruft in 
the right caufe, that we do not give them gentle meet- 
ings and gentle dismiflions; that we debate not, and exa- 
mine the matter thoroughly, with liberal and frequent 
audience 5 if not for their fakes, yet for our own ? See- 
ing no man who hath tailed learning, but will confefs 
the many ways of profiting by thofe who, not content- 
ed with dale receipts, are able to manage and fet-forth, 
new pofitions to the world. And, were they but as 
the duft and cinders of our feet, fo long as in that 
notion they may yet ferve to polifh and brighten the 
armoury of truth, even for that refpect they were not 
utterly to be caft-away. But, if they be of thofe whom 
God hath fitted for the fpecial ufe of thefe times, with 
eminent and ample gifts, and thofe, perhaps, neither 
among the priefts, nor among the Pharifees, and we in 

R % the 



244 

the hafte of a precipitant zeal (hall make no dift men- 
tion, but refolve to itop their mouths, becaufe we feaF 
they come with new and dangerous opinions, as we 
commonly forejudge them, ere we underftand them 5. 
no lefs than woe to us, while, thinking thus to defend 
the Gofpel, we are found the persecutors ! 
Several of There have been not a few (ince the beginning of 

thePresby- .... fe a 

terian this Parliament, both of the Prefbytery and others, who 

themselves, Dv their unlicenfed books, to the contempt of an Impri- 

dui eminent ma j ur fi Y ft broke that triple ice elung about our hearts, 

service to * l ° 

thePublick, and taught the people to fee day 1 I hope that none of 

ginning of thofe were the perfuaders to renew upon us this bon- 

mem^by* dage, wWeh they themfelves have wrought fo much, 

E u ?f s ? ms good by contemning. But, if neither the check that 

useful, Mofes gave to young Jofhua, nor the countermand 

out Licea- which our Saviour gave to young John, (who was fa 

rem't* f?h reac ty t0 prohibit thofe whom he thought unlicenfed,} 

kwsconeer- be enough to admonifh our elders* how unaccepta- 

»ing Licen- . 

*ins then ble to God their tefty mood of prohibiting is ; if neither 

' s their own remembrance, what evil hath abounded ia 

the church by this lett of Licenfing, and what good they 

themfelves have begun by tranfgrefling it, be not 

enough, but that they will perfuade and execute the 

moll Dominican part of the Inquifiiion over us, and 

are already with one foot in the fiirrup, fo active at 

fupprcfting, it would be no unequal diftribution, in the 

firft-place, to fupprefs the fuppreffors themfelves; whom 

the change of their condition hath puffed-up, more. 

than their late experience of harder times hath made 

\\ lie. 

The Order And as for regulating the prefs, let no man think- to 

roenVllext liave tne h° nolj r of advifing ye better than yourfelves 

before tfc- -h ave done in that Order, publifhed next before this, 

pr; sent 

cne^vas (be " That no book be printed, unlefs the printer's and 
pwerest ^ 



245 

the author's name, or at leaft the printer's, be regifter- {gjj^jjj 
cd." Thofe which otherwife come-forth, if they 'be be made 
found mifchievous and libellous, the fire and the execu- the Liberty 
tioner will be the timelifcft and the moil effectual reme- ofthei>f * S:i - 
•dy, that man's prevention can ufe. For this authen- 
tic Spanifh policy of Licenfing books, if I have faid 
aught, will prove the moft unlieenfed book itfeif, with- 
in a fhort while; and was the immediate image of a 
Star-chamber decree to that purpofe, made in thofe very 
times, when that Court did the reft of thofe her pious 
works, for which (lie is now fallen from the ftars with 
Lucifer. Whereby ye may guefs what kind of State- 
prudence, what love of the people, what care of reli- 
gion, or good manners, there was at the contriving, al- 
though, with lingular hypocrify, it pretended to bind 
books to their good behaviour. And how it got the upper 
hand of your prececdent order, fo well constituted before, 
if we may believe thofe men, whofe profefiion gives 
them caufe to inquire moft, it may be doubted there 
was in it the fraud of fome old patentees and monopo- 
lizers in the trade of boolc- felling; who, underpretence 
•of the poor in their company not to be defrauded, and 
the juft retaining of each man his feveral copy, (which 
God forbid, ftiould be gainfaidi) brought divers gloffing 
colours to the houfe, which were indeed but colours, 
and ferving to no end except it be to exercife a fuperio - 
rity over their neighbours ; men who do not labour in 
an horieft profeffion, to which Learning is indebted, 
that they mould be made other men's vafTals. Ano- 
ther end, is thought, was aimed at by fome of them, in 
procuring by petition this Order, that having power in 
their hands, malignant books might the ealier efeape 
abroad, as the event (hows. But of thefe fophifms and 
>elenchs of merchandize I fkill not : This I know, that 
R 3 errours 



246 



errours in a good government, and in a bad, are equally 
almoft incident ; for what magiftrate may not be mis- 
informed, and much the fooner, if liberty of printing 
be reduced into the power of a few ? But to redrefs 
willingly, and fpeedily, what hath been erred, and in 
highest authority, to efteem a plain advertisement, more 
than others have done a fumptuous bride, is a virtue 
(honoured Lords and Commons !) anfwerable to your 
Jiigheft a&ions, and whereof none can participate but 
greateft and wifeft men. 



OF 



247 



OF THE INNOCENCE OF THE LATE KING OF FRANCE, 
LEWIS XVI. OF ALL THE CHARGES LATELY JJRQUGU T 
AGAINST HIM. 



To the Printer of the Public Advertiser, 



SIR, May 7, 1793. 

T Have lately feen a work written by M. De Sainte Croix? 
who was Secretary of ftate for foreign affairs to the late 
innocent and unfortunate King of France, Lewis the Six- 
teenth, on the iGth of Auguft laft, when his Palace of the 
Thuilleries at Paris was aflaulted, and his faithful Swifs 
guards were murdered by a furious mob of banditti, who 
were determined to convert the monarchical government 
of France, limited and weak as it was, into a pure re* 
publick. The book is entitled, " A Hiftory of theConfpi- 
<c racy of the Republicans of Paris again ft the then fub- 
*: lifting Government, which broke-out on the 10th of 
4i Auguft, 1 7-92 5" and contains many proofs of a defign, 
carried-on for feveral months together, to embarrafs and 
degrade, and ultimately to overthrow, the regal part of 
the CQuJlltuiional Government, which had been eftablifhcd, 
bv the firft National AfTembly. In prolecution of this de- 
sign, it was the conftant employment of the writers of 
Republican news-papers to blacken the King's character 
and conduct in the eyes of the people, by afcribiog to him 
views which he never entertained, nor, (from the fcru- 
pulous integrity, which now appears to have governed .all 
his actions,) was capable of entertaining, and meafures in 
•rvhich he had no concern. In particular it was given-cut 

R 4 that 



348 

that he fent money to fome of the gentlemen who "tiad 
formerly been of his life-guard, to eneourage them to ferve 
in the army of the emigrants under his brothers, the 
Counts of Provence and Artois, and join with the Auf- 
trians and Pruffians under the Duke of Brunfwick in the 
invafion of France in laft July, 1792 ; and it was alfo faid 
that he was privy to, and encouraged, the treaty of Pilnitz 
in the preceeding fummer, 1791, between the Emperourof 
Germany, Leopold II. and the King of Pruffia, which 
was fuppofed to have been made with a view to an invafion 
of Jrance, and a re-eftablifliment of the former abfolute 
regal government. Now the virtuous Lewis was innocent 
of both thefe charges. He had, indeed, continued to many 
of his old life-guard-men their former pay : but it was out 
of mere bounty and gratitude to them for their former 
fervices, and upon an exprefs condition that they mould 
continue to refide in France, and mould produce certi- 
ficates of their doing fo to the perfon from whom they 
were to receive the money, which made it impoffible for 
them to ferve in the emigrants army. This was proved 
at the trial of the unfortunate monarch, by a written 
document produced by M. De Seze, one of his counfel, 
and of which the authenticity has never been difputed ; 
and now it is confirmed by a teftimony of M. De Sainte 
Croix, one of the King's minifters of state; who likewife 
informs us that the King had no concern in the treaty of 
Pilnitz, and was extremely uneafy at the thoughts of an 
invafion of his kingdom by German, or any foreign^ 
armies, for the purpofe of effecting a counter-revolution, 
and reftoring him to his former power. 

The paffages of Monfieur De Sainte Croix's book which 
relate to thefe fubjects are as follows : 

< On the 7th of laft Auguft, 1792, that is, three day3 
f before the attack made on the palace of the Thuilleries^ 

* the 



249 

* the King, in a conference I had with him, in which he 

* mentioned this mbje6t of his own accord, mowed me a pa- 
.' per, which proved that ever fince the laft months of the 
f preceeding year, 1791, no payments had been made 
i to thefe life-guard-men, even of the arrears that had 
§ become due before that time, without authentick certifi- 
f cates of their having a known refidence in France. I 

* have had the original order of the King made for this 
f purpofe, and which was all written in his own hand- 

* writing, in my hands, and, from having read it, can 

* atteft that this was the purport of it.* 

The next paffage relates to the King's endeavours to 
prevent any hoftile attempts againft France from the neigh- 
bouring powers on the Continent, and is as follows : 

' All the political cabinets of Europe will bear witnefs 
6 to the fpirit of peace and conciliation which conftantly 
$ governed the King of France in all his tranfa&ions with 
f foreign powers. If his enemies mould blame the ufe 
-' he made of his influence at the Court of Vienna, I can 
y anfwer, that he was fo far from making the ufe they* 
? would fugged of this influence, that, fo long ago as the 

* fpring of the year 1791, he prevented the execution of 
c a fecret plan that had been fettled at Mantua for invading 
? France about two months after, when the French armies 

* were as yet incompleat, and the frontiers of the kingdom 
i undefended. And in the fummer of the fame year 1701, 
c he prevented the effects of the treaty of Pilnitz ; and in 
c the autumn of the fame year he concerted meafures with 
< the Emperour for keeping all the troops and military 
f preparations that had lately been making near the Rhine, 

* from palling that river towards the eaitern frontier of 
f France. That thefe things are fo, I, (who have been the 
' King's minifter for foreign affairs, and muft therefore 
$ be fuppoled to have been acquainted with them,) do 

i pofitively 



250 

4 " pofnively aflort. Let the King's enemies, if they pre- 
' tend to doubt of them, publiih the papers of the King's 

* foreign correfpondence, which their mobs carried-ofF by 
! force from the palace of the Thuilleries on the fatal ioth 
6 of Auguft. I challenge them to do fo : for the Publick 
4 will then fee the raoft indifputable proofs of the repeated 

* and mod earned endeavours of the King to avoid this 
4 war with the powers of Germany, which was firft pro- 

* voked, and, afterwards abfolutely brought-on and en- 
€ gaged-in by thofe very perfons who now have the auda- 
c city to lay the blame of it upon him. They feem to 
< think it poffible for us to have forgot that the National 
6 Affembiy pafled a decree of accufation againft one of the 

* King's Minifters, Moniieur de LefTart, merely becaufe he 
' had avoided entering into the war; and that the republi- 
c can party, by threatning the King with the dangers of 

* another infurre&ion at Paris, forced him to admit to the 

* office, which that Minifter was obliged to quit, another 
c perfon who was devoted to their views, Monfieur du 

* Mouriez, and who foon managed matters in mch a way, 
f as to make the entering into that war a meafure of ab- 

* folute necefifity. As to the King himfelf, he never 
4 considered war in any other light than as a frem fource 

* of publick confufions and misfortunes ; and, inftead of 
e wifhing for a counter-revolution, he dreaded it as an 
*. occafion of committing new crimes that would further 

* diilionour the nation; and he ufed his utmoft endeavours 
1 to prevent any interference of foreign powers in the 
6 domeftick concerns of France. Alas ! how little is his 

* character underftood ! the only objects of his wiflies are, 
' to fee a flop to the prcfent confufions and political dif- 

* fenlions of France, a return of the bleffings of domeftick 
1 peace and good order, and, above all, a revival of the 
' people's good opinion of him, and confidence in the 

' purity 



251 

* purity of his intentions. The want of this confidence is 
e what afflicts him more than all his other misfortunes ; 
( and he cotild bear with patience the groffeft calumnies, it 

* they did not make an impreflion on the people. At ihe 
( very thought of this effect of them, I have {ean the tears 
c come into his eyes. It is that, (faid he on the 3d of lad 

* Auguft, 1792) it is that circumftance that wounds my 

* very foul — But the people, I truft, will one day know how 

* much their happinefs was the object of my concern, my 

* only wifh, and my greater!: want. Oh ! how many of 

* the misfortunes which I am doomed to fuffer, would 
4 become light, and lofe their power of afflicting me, if I 

* could but once perceive the fligthed mark of the return of 

* my people's love." O ! moft unhappy, and moft deluded 
€ people of France ! furely when you hear that your Sove- 

* reign uttered thefe affectionate expreffions, your eyes alfo 
6 aught to be filled with tears 1/ 

Mr. Printer, if you think thefe paffages, in favour of the 
character of the late unfortunate King of France, worth 
publifhing in your ufeful paper, I may perhaps fend you 
another extract from the fame book to the fame effect. 
Mr. Pope fays, that * An honed man's the nobled work 
of God/ Now I take Lewis the XVIth to have been 
really an honed man •, and, if fo, he is not the lefs to be 
honoured on that account, becaufe he was a King ; but 
rather the reverfe, on account of the temptations to which 
Kings are expofed from their high ftation, and the flattery 
with which they are continually furrounded, even from their 
early youth, and which has a drong tendency to corrupt 
*em, 

A CONSTANT READER. 

F. M. 



252 



ON MR. COURTNAY'S INTENDED MOTION, CONCERNING 
THE PROCESS OF ECCLESIASTICAL COURTS, AGAINST 
PERSONS MARRIED TOGETHER IN SOME MANNER NOT 
ALLOWED BY LAW. 



To the Printer of Hie Public Advertiser. 



SIR, May 9, 1793. 

I Cannot but wonder at Mr. Courtnay's having put-off 
his intended motion concerning the women that are now in 
prifon, by procefs of the Ecelefiaftical courts, on account 
of the difficulty of providing a remedy to this grievance. 
The remedy appears to me to be very obvious-^— it is ftmply 
this: To allow of fome other mode of marrying, as legal, 
befides that prefcribed by the church of England. 

As the law now {lands, there is no other mode of marry- 
ing that is clearly and indifputably legal. — I fay clearly and 
indlfpuiably legal, becaufe I know that the marriages of 
Jews and Quakers are fpoken-of in Lord Hardwicke's mar- 
riage-ac~t., paffed in the year 1752, as if they were legal; 
which may be confldered as a fort of collateral, or occafional, 
legiflative confirmation of them. — Yet, if a Quaker was 
to die inteftate, and in pofTeflion of a landed eftate of inheri- 
tance, and his wife was to claim her dower of one third part 
of his faid landed eftate during her life ; and the inteftate's 
next heir, (as, for inftance, his brother,) was to difpute her 
claim to such dower, on the ground of her not having been 
lawfully married to the inteftate, I do not fee how fhe could 
ever eftablifh her marriage; as the only known way of prov- 
ing a marriage in fuch an aclion for dower, is to procure 
from the bifhop of the dioccfe in which the marriage 

was 



253 

was folemnized, his certificate that the faid parties were 
at fuch a time and place joined-together in holy matri- 
mony, legitimo matrimonio copulati ; which certificate, I 
prefume, would not be granted to the Quaker's wife. 
And ftill lefs does our law allow the validity of marriages 
performed according to the ceremonies of the Mahometan 
religion, or any other religion lefs known to Englishmen. 
Yet it is certain, that all perfons who are permitted to 
live in England, ought to be permitted to marry there ; 
and it is likewife certain, that, according to the principles 
of the Proteftant religion, marriage is not a facrament, 
but a civil contract. It feems, therefore, to be reasonable 
that an act of Parliament fhould be pafTed to this effect, 
to wit, i ft, To make all the marriages celebrated in the 
meeting-houfes, or chapels,, of Proteftant difTenters, (duly 
licenfed according to the Toleration-act) lawful : and 2ndly, 
To declare all marriages celebrated by Quakers, in their 
meeting-houfes, and by Jews in their fynagogues, to be 
alfo lawful : and, 3dly, To declare that all marriages that 
(hall be entered-into before the Juftices of the Peace of any 
county, at their Quarter-feffions, or other general feffions, 
and perhaps, even before any two Juftices of the Peace, 
(hall alfo be lawful. This would accommodate perfons 
of all religions, and of all diiferent fects of religion, and 
prevent such grievances as thofe which Mr. Courtenay pro- 
pofes to relieve. In the mean while, it muft be obferved, 
that the Ecclefiaftical courts are not to he blamed for their 
conduct in this unfortunate bufinefs, as they have only done 
their duty with refpect to the perfons brought before them 
upon a charge of Incontinence, upon the principles of the 
Law, as it nowftands. 

I am your 

CONSTANT READER. 

'. F. M. 



254 



REASONS WHY THE WAR WITH FRANCE dOULD 
NOT BE AVOIDED. 



To the Printer of the Public Advertiser. 



SIR, Sept. 28, 1793, 

I am one of those who lament the war we are now en- 
gaged in with France as a very great evil, but think it is an 
evil of neceffity, that could not have been avoided, and 
therefore muft be fubmitted-to with patience, and carried- 
on (as it has been) with vigour. 

My reafon for thinking it could not have been avoided is, 
that it feems to have been a fixed principle of the new re- 
publican governours of France (though not of the makers of 
the former Constitutional Monarchy, as it is called) to ex- 
tend their new mode of government to other nations. 
Their refolutions of the 15th and 30th of Iafl. December, 
1792, prove this beyond a doubt ; and their bold and wan- 
ton Declarations of war again (I both Spain and Great- 
Britain at the fame time, and their invafion of Holland by 
laying fiege to Williamftadt, and taking pofleffion of Breda, 
are notorious confirmations of it. — And lately Mr. Mallet 
du Pan, the bold and upright author of the valuable French 
jjeriodical paper, called he Mercure de France, which was 
published every week (if I miftake not) from the firft meet- 
ing of the States General of France in May, 1789, to the be- 
ginning of Anguft, 1792, when Monarchy and the Liberty 
of the Prefs were aboliflied together, and the practice of 

aflaflmation, 



255 

aflaffination and of fummary trial and condemnation by the 
mob, or, as they are called, the /over eign people, acting in 
their own perfons_, and not by their reprefentatives, was 
adopted, and, at leaft, connived -at by the Convention — I 
fay, this Mr. Mallet du Pan has lately given us an extract 
from a letter of Monfieur BrhTot (a great leader of the re- 
publican party in France) written in confidence to one of 
his friends, (who was a Member of the French Convention, 
and deputed by them to fuperintend the Generals of their 
armies,) which expreffly avows this mod dangerous and 
hofl.il e principle. The words of Monfieur Briflbt are as 
follows : " II faut incendier les quatre coins de 1* Europe : 
Notre falut eft la :" That is, " We mull fet the four cor- 
ners of Europe on fire : Our fafety lies in that." — This 
paiTage of Mr. Briflbt's letter is contained in the 37th page 
of a pamphlet of Mr. Mallet du Pan, lately publifhed, 
which is entitled, " Confiderations fur la Nature de la 
Revolution de France, et fur les Caufes qui en prolongent 
la duree," and contains much curious and important in- 
formation. — Mr. Mallet likewife informs us (in page 33 of 
the fame pamphlet, note 1), that this fame Monfieur 
Briflbt, about laft September, 1792, when the mob of Paris 
was plundering and beheading the editors of news-papers 
of a contrary party to himfelf (who is alfo a publifher of a 
news-paper), excufed all thefe enormities by faying, "That 
** it was proper to yield to the peculiar eircumftances of 
" the times, and to let the laws fleep a little with refpect 
" to the perpetrators of them ;" and he further informs us, 
that the fame Monfieur Briflbt publickly and folemnly 
boafted, " That he had been the caufe of the French 
" Government's declaring waragainft the Auftrians in April, 
<* 1792, with a view to find an opportunity, on the firft 
xc failure of fuccefs oftheFrench arms, of throwingtheblame 
" of fuch failure upon the King, and accufing him ofcollud- 

" ing 



256 

** ing with the enemy, and betraying the caufe of France, 
ct and, by means of fuch accufations, of driving him from 
16 the throne." 

Mr. Mallet dn Pan informs us of another curious fact, 
which fhews us how much the prefent rulers of France are 
loft to all kn^ of juftice or humanity* 

There are now in France many bloody Tribunals, lately 
erected for trying crimes againft the State, which are called 
Revolutionary Tribunals, befides the principal one, which 
is at Paris, and by which (a many unhappy perfons have 
been put to death. One of thefe is for the Department of 
the river Ain, and the prifon belonging to it is at a place 
called Bourg. Many priioners of different ranks and con- 
ditions were confined in this prifon of Bourg for pretended 
State-crimes. But, as there were no proofs of their guilt, 
the Judges of the revolutionary Tribunal of that Depart- 
ment did not condemn them to die. This regard to juftice 
was confidered by the Commiffi oners from the Convention, 
who were fent to fuperintend their proceedings, as a cri- 
minal flacknefs and neglect of their duty, and the Com- 
miQioners upbraided them on account of it ; to which when 
they anfwered, " that they could not find in their hearts to 
( * condemn to death a crowd of citizens of all forts and 
" conditions that were then in the prifons, without having 
<c proofs of their guilt" — the Commifiioners replied fharply, 
and with countenances full of anger, " Why ! if we had 
" thought it necetTary to proceed only upon proofs, could 
" we ever have condemned Lewis Capet ?" Such are the 
perfons who now govern the French nation. 

Before I conclude this letter, I will juft mention what I 
take to be the grand miftake of the French nation, and of 
the political writers whole fentiments they have adopted, 
within the laft four or five years. It is, " that civil govern- 
ment mould be adminifter'd by the people at large." Now 

this 



2b1 

this is totally impracticable in a large country, fuch as Eng- 
land or' France, and very abfurd and inexpedient in a final » 
country, fuch as one of the fmaller Swifs Cantons, or the 
Republic of Geneva. On the contrary, it is in all cafes 
expedient to delegate the power of Government to zfeleEl 
part of the fociety that is to be governed ; whether, to one 
perfon, (which makes an Abfolute Monarchy) or to one per- 
fon with an aflembly of reprefentatives choi'en by the peo- 
ple, or by the land- holders or houfe- holders of the country 
(which would make a Limited Monarchy flmilar to the late 
Conftitutional Monarchy of France,) or to one perfon 
with two aflemblies, the one confifting of the richer part 
of the fociety, either holding their feats by Inheritance, 
to make them independent of the King, or appointed 
by the King for life, but with certain neceflary qualify 
cations of large property or high offices ; and the other 
chofen by the people, or by the land-holders or houfer 
holders among the people, (which would make a Limi- 
ted Monarchy, fuch as that of England) or to one or two 
felecl aflemblies, without a (ingle perfon, which would 
make a Common-wealth, orRepublick. Thefe and other 
fuch modifications of the publick power, delegated by the 
whole fociety to a felecl part of it, are practicable fchemes, 
and may produce a tolerable fyftem of Government, under 
which a civil fociety may flourim and be happy. 

But for the whole people to retain the power of the Go- 
vernment in their own hands, and exercife it themfelves, is 
the height of all abfurdity, and was never attempted before 
'the prefent experiment in France; of which we fee, and 
feel, and lament, the horrid effects ! 

Inall the ancient republicks of Greece and Italy, thema- 
jority of the people were flaves. In Athens (which is often 
mentioned as a noble democracy, in which the people ga* 
verned themfelves,) there were only 20,000 free citizens^ 
and 400,000 flaves ; that is, twenty parts out of twenty-ong. 
were governed by the remaining twenty-fir-ft part, 

s In 



258 

In Sparta, the Helots, who were kept in a lhameful ftate 
of (lavery, were much more numerous than the free Spar- 
tans. And the like observation may be made on the in- 
habitants of Rome, and the other Republican governments 
of antiquity. 

In fhort, the truth is, firft, that all juft government is for 
the people, and ought to have their welfare and happinef* 
in view as its grand object, and not the happinefs of the 
governing few, otherwife than in common with the govern- 
ed, or inferior members of the fociety ; and, fecondly, all 
juft government is derived from the people, or founded on 
their confent, either expreffed or implied, fince no man, or 
body of men, have received an exprefs commiffion from the 
Supreme Being to govern their fellow-creatures ; but, third- 
ly, it is equally true that all good government ought lo be 
veiled in a felect part of the people, with the choice and 
confent of the reft, and not in the people at large, and that 
it mould be adminiftered by fuch felect part, and mould be 
fubmitted-to by the reft of the people with chearful, re- 
fpeclful, and grateful, obedience, which is commonly called 
loyalty, till fome enormous abufes of the powers of govern- 
ment, by the governing part of the fociety, have been com- 
plained-of, and petitioned-againft, by the perfons who have 
fuffe red from them, and yet have not been corrected and 
reformed, but infolently perfevered-in and repeated ; in 
which cafe there lies in the people at large a moral right, 
not togovemthemfelves, but to diflblvethegovernment which 
they had before adopted, difmifs their go vernours, and choofe 
better men in their ftead, and, if neceffary, a better form 
of government than they had before ; and then fubmit ta 
fuch new governours and new form of government with the 
fame deference, refpecl, and humility, with which they 
had before fubmitted to the former government, while it 

had 



259 

had been juftly adminiftered, and before the exiftence of 
the abufes which had given occafion to its overthrow. 

Every interference of the people at large with govern- 
ment; beyond this, leads only to confuiion and mifery. 

I remain, 

Your mod humble fervant, 

A CONSTANT READER, 

EM. 



THOUGHTS 



260 



THOUGHTS ON THE LATE NEGOTIATION FOR PEACE 



To the Printer of the JWorning Herald, 



Mr. Editor, Oct. 1, 1797. 

On reading in your Paper this morning., that the French 
Directory infilled, in the late negotiation at Lifle, on Great 
Britain's reftoring all the conquefts (lie has made both from 
the French and from the Dutch before they will confent to 
Peace with us, it occurred to me that fuch a demand would 
give us a juft pretence for forming a counter-demand of 
fomewhat the fame nature, but much more moderate in its 
extent, upon them and their allies, the new Batavian Re 
public. This demand is, that the French Government would 
reftore to the Batavian Republic the town of Maastricht, 
and all the reft of what was called Dutch Brabant, and every- 
thing elfe that the lateDutchGovernmentporTefTed in theLow 
Countries before the French invafion; and would alfo cede 
to them the city and Marquifate of Antwerp, and the town 
of Oftend, with the diftricl: adjoining it; and that the Bata- 
vian Republic would reftore to the prince of Orange all the 
eftates which have been taken from him, and which belonged 
to him as prince of Orange, independently of his office of 
Stadtholder. Such a propofal would, I mould fuppofe, be 
agreeable to the Batavian Republic, as it would tend, in 
fome degree, to reftore them to a ftate of independence of 
France, of which they are atprefent little better then a pro- 
vince: and it would be but a fmall diminution of the large 

and 



261 

and populous territories acquired by France in this unfortu- 
nate war, by the conqueft of the reft of the Auftrian Nether- 
lands, which it is now in vain to think of wrefting from 
them, though it is a great misforlune to us, as well as to the 
inhabitants of thofe provinces themfelves, and to their late 
Sovereign, theEmperour of Germany, and to theDutch, that 
thofe provinces havebeen conquered by them. For this unhap- 
py event, we are to thank thearbitraryencroachmentsmadeon 
the liberties of thofe inhabitants by the late Emperour Jofeph 
II. in breach of the oath he had taken to maintain thofe 
liberties, and of the Treaty of Utrecht, by which alone he 
had any right of fovereignty over thofe countries: perhaps al- 
fo we may thank the fupinenefs and negligence of our own 
Government at that time, in not interfering with that rafh 
and tyrannical Emperour, in the beft manner we could, to 
check his proceedings, and protect the liberties of thofe 
people, as being guarantees of the Treaty of Utrecht, by 
which thofe liberties were promifed to be continued to them. 
Thefe things, however, are now paft, and the mifchiefs of 
various kinds produced by them are irreparable. But, 
though thofe provinces cannot now be recovered from 
France, yet, furely, we may hope to procure the fmall por- 
tions of them above mentioned to be reftored and ceded to 
the Batavian Republick, in order to procure it a moderate, 
degree of independence: and this would be of great impor- 
tance towards the prefervation of our own independence. 
Perhaps, alfo, as great changes are now making over all 
Europe, it might be expedient for us to give up Gibraltar to 
the Spaniards, in exchange for the ifland of Minorca, 
which, though not quite fo ftrong as Gibraltar, could not 
have been taken from us, either in the year 1 756, or the 
year 1781, if the garrifon had been ftronger than it was by 
only 1500 or 2000 men. 

And, as the Weft-India Colonies will be of no ufe either to 
;js or any other of the European States to which they be ? 

s 3 long 



262 

long, unlefs the negro flaves in them continue in a ftate of 
fubje&ion and induftry, I could wifh that we fhould reiain 
Martinico, and have all the other French Colonies there, fuch 
as Guadaloupe and St. Domingo, ceded to us, or ceded to 
the Spaniards, by the French; and, in confideration of fuch 
ceffions, we mould be ready to pay to the French a fum of 
two or three millions of pounds fterling. This measure I 
mould confider as expedient, not from an avaricious defire of 
monopolizing all the fugar-illands in the Weft-Indies, but 
for the fake of preferving our own former fugar-iilands, 
which will foon be rendered ufelefs to us, and even become 
a nuifance both to us and to all the commercial States in the 
world, if Martinico, Guadaloupe, and the other French 
iflands, (hall be brought into the miferable ftate of St. 
Domingo, by the fudden emancipation of the negro flaves. 
I would not, however, be fuppofed to be a friend to the 
Slave-trade : for I heartily wifh it were aboli (lied, according to 
Mr. Wilberforce's benerolent, and, as I think, prudent, plan, 
and that without further delay. But this is quite a different 
queftion from that of the emancipation of the negroes 
already in the Weft-India iflands; for fuch an emancipation, 
befides being an enormous injury to the Planters who own 
them, would throw every thing into confufion, and bring- 
on the general mifery of all the inhabitants of thofe Colonies, 
the negroes themfelves, as well as the white men, their 
mafters. 

It is only to avoid fuch general fcenes of mifery and defla- 
tion that I fhould wifh to have the French iflands ceded to 
us; and I fhould, therefore, be almoft as well pleafed to fee 
the whole ifland of St. Domingo ceded to the Spaniards 
(who are faid to be the mildeft and moft judicious mafters of 
flaves of any of the European nations that have fettled in 
America), as to the Crown of Great Britain. The preferva- 
lion of our own independance and of our property, and not 
tbeacquifition of more power, or wealth, or trade, ought now 

to 



263 

to be our great object ; and to this object the meafures I 
have fuggefted would contribute. 

As to the propofal of paying two or three millions of 
pounds fierling for thofe iflands, I confefs it is a mortifying 
and humiliating condition ; but we are not victorious in the 
prefent war, and mull fubmit to the inconveniences refulting 
from the ill fuccefs of it: and we ought to recollect, that, 
at the enormous rate of expence at which this war has 
been carried-on, (whether fuch expence has been neceflary or 
not, I do not pretend to determine;) three millions of pounds 
fterling is lefs then the expence of carrying-on the war for 
only two months ; and, consequently, many a fum of three 
millions muft be fpent in confequence of our refufal to pay 
this, or fome fuch, fum, if the French mould be difpofed to 
accept of it as the price of thofe iflands and of an immediate 
peace. 

If these conditions were complied-with by the French, I 
mould think Great Britain ought to think herfelf happy to 
obtain the refloration of peace by the ceffion of the French 
factory of Pondicherry, the Dutch ifland of Ceylon, and the 
value of the mips deftroyed at Toulon; and even of the Cape 
of Good Hope, and of every other place that we may have 
taken from either the French or the Dutch Republicks in the 
courfe of the war, 

A LOVER OF PEACE. 

F.M. 



S 4 REFLECTIONS 



m 



REFLECTIONS ON SOME OF THE MOST IMPORTANT AR- 
TICLES THAT IT WOULD BE REASONABLE TO ADOPT 
IN FORMING A LEGISLATIVE UNION OF THE TWO 
KINGDOMS OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND; WHICH 
WAS A MEASURE THAT WAS MUCH THE SUBJECT OF 
CONVERSATION IN THE YEARS 1797 AND 1793, AND 
WHICH WAS AFTERWARDS CARRIED INFO EXECU- 
TION IN THE YEAR 1SG0\ 



To the Editor of the Old Englishman and 
Ant i* Jacobin Examiner. 

Sir, 

I Have read with great pleafure a pamphlet publifhed at 
Dublin, and fince republifhed at London, entitled, " Argu- 
ments for and againft an Union between Great-Britain and 
Ireland confidered" in which the writer fets-forth the great 
advantages that would accrue to both kingdoms from fuch 
a meafure in fo full and clear a light, that I hope it will over- 
come the prejudices that have been hitherto entertained on 
both fides the Irifh Channel againft the meafure, and will 
prove the means of inducing both kingdoms to adopt it. 
Seventy or eighty years ago, I believe, apropofal of this kind 
made by Great-Britain would have been chearfully and 
thankfully acceded-to by the Irifh Nation : but then the 
Britifh Nation was too proud to offer it. And for thefe 
laft twenty years, when Great Britain would probably have 
been willing to confent to it, the Irifh Nation have been too 
proud to accept it. But now that a rebellion has been raif- 
ed in Ireland upon the new French principles, or, rather, 
pretentions, of Liberty and Equality, that is, in truth, upon 

thjf 



§f)5 

the principles of robbery and murder, or with a view to rob 
the eftablifhed church of Ireland of its tythes and other 
property, and the nobility and gentry of their eftates, and 
that a great part of the peafantry of Ireland has been feduc- 
edby Mr. Wolfe Tone, Mr. Napper Tandy, Mr. Archi- 
bald Rowan, and their other pretended patriots, to join in 
this rebellion, with out even the pretence of a real grievance, 
and to invite the republicans of France, (the deftroyers and 
plunderers of the really free countries of Holland, Brabant, 
and Switzerland,) to invade their country and affift them in 
theirproject of forming themfelves into a republick similar to 
that of France ; and the Parliament and Government of 
Ireland have found themfelves unable to repress this rebel- 
lion, without the help of many thoufand Britifh troops; — 
it may be hoped that they will fee the neceflity of a clofer 
and more intimate connection with Great-Britain, in order 
to prevent a return of the like dangers. Taking it therefore 
for granted that this wife, and indeed indifpenfable, meafure 
of an Union between the two kingdoms will bethought rea- 
sonable on both fides the Irifh Channel, I fhall beg leave to 
mention fome thoughts that have occurred to me concern- 
ing the terms of it. 

' Jn the firft place then, as I ardently defire to fee this 
great meafure adopted, I would endeavour to make it 
palateable to the Irfh nation by allowing them a very ample 
number of reprefentatives in the Britifh Parliament, to 
wit, fifty members in the Houfe of Lords, and a hundred 
members in the Houfe of Commons. Of the fifty mem- 
bers in the Houfe of Lords, eleven mould be Irifh Bishops, 
which is half the whole number of archbifhops and bi- 
fhops in Ireland ; and thefe (hould be the four arch-bifhops 
and the bifhops of the feven richeft bifhopricks in Ireland, 
which (hould be enumerated in the act of Union. But, if 
the bifhops of the fees did not attend the Parliament on the 

firft 



266 

firft day of any Seflion of Parliament, the other bifhops, of 
fees not enumerated in the act of Union, might attend in 
their ftead^ and mould be intitled to receive from the feveral 
bifhops in whofe ftead they attended, the fum of 500 pounds 
to defray the expence of their attendance. The other 39 
Irifh Lords who mould be admitted into the Britifh Houfe 
of Lords, mould be fuch as were not already Britim peers, 
and mould be elected by fuch Irifh Lords as were not 
already Britim peers. And for the future no new peers 
fhould be created for Ireland only, any more than there 
have been new peers created for Scotland only fince the 
Union of the two kingdoms in the year 1707 ; but all 
new peers mould be peers of Great-Britain. As to the 
hundred members to be admitted into the Britifh Houfe of 
Commons, I mould think it would be expedient to permit 
all the members for Counties to make a part of them, and 
to fill-up the remainder of the number from fome of the 
moil eminent cities and trading-towns in Ireland, fuch as 
Dublin, Cork, Belfaft, Athlone, Londonderry, Armagh, 
Waterford, Limerick, Port-Arlington, Kingfale, Lifburne, 
Innifkillin, Galway, Athy, Kilkenny, Wicklow, and Dun- 
dalk. This method of compofing the Irifh members of the 
Britim Houfe of Commons would in a great meafure 
operate as a reform in the reprefentation of that houfe, 
which is thought by many perfons to be a matter of the 
greateft importance. For there are 34 Counties in Ireland, 
each of which fends two members to parliament ; fo that, 
if this method of compofing this addition to the Britifh 
Houfe of Commons were to be adopted, we mould have 68 
new members of Counties in that Legiflative afTembly, 
which would go a great way towards effecting the improve- 
ment of its conftitution fuggefted by the late much-admir- 
ed Minifter, the Earl of Chatham, who propofed that an 
hundred additional members for Counties mould be admitt- 
ed 



267 

ed into the Britifli Houfe of Commons, in order, as he 
exprefTed it, to infufe new and wholefome blood, that is, 
new life and independance into it, in oppofition to the 
members for boroughs, who are fuppofed to be too often 
feekers of promotion and pecuniary emolument, and to have 
procured their feats in parliament with a view to advance 
their fortunes. This moderate plan of reform, fuggefted 
by the Earl of Chatham, has met with the approbation , of 
many perfons in England, who are firm friends to our pre- 
fent form of Government by a Limited Monarch with two 
houfes of parliament, a houfe of Lords and a houfe of 
Commons, and are therefore determined enemies of 
French republicanifm, and of ail fuch violent plans of refor- 
ming Parliament as, by removing the foundations of our 
prefent fyftem by too great an extenfion of the right of 
election, would naturally tend to introduce it. And this 
moderate reform would be in a great meafure brought- 
about by the admiflion of the 68 members of the Irifh 
Counties into the Britim Houfe of Commons, and by the 
admiflion of the remaining 32 members of the hundred 
from elections made by the great cities and trading-towns 
of Ireland, inftead of the feveral paltry, little, boroughs, 
totally dependent on fome Lord, or rich Commoner, by 
which, (as I have always heard,) the members for boroughs 
in the Irifh Parliament are now elected. As to the Lords 
and rich Commoners who have influence enough to nomi- 
nate the members for the boroughs that, upon this plan, 
would be deprived of their right of election, I would pro- 
pofe that they and their voters fhould receive a fum of 
money from the publick treafury, either of Great-Britain 
or Ireland, in compenfation of the lofs of their privileges ; 
juft as the proprietors of certain hereditary Jurisdictions in 
Scotland, that were found to be prejudicial to the tranquilli- 
ty of the kingdom, were bought-out of them with publick 

money 



268 

money after the Scotch rebellion about fifty years ago ; an 
event, Mr. Printer, that I well remember. I prefume one 
million of pounds fterling would be fufficient for this 
purpofe; and I fhould be glad to fee it fo employed, even 
though it was advanced out of the Englifh treafury. 

In the fecond place, I conceive it ought to be ilipulated 
in the act of Union, if this beneficial meafure fliall be 
adopted, that all the debts of the kingdom of Ireland alrea- 
dy contracted at the time of the Union, (hall be paid, or 
provided-for, by taxes raifed in Ireland, and all the debts 
of Great-Britain already contracted at the time of the 
Union, (hall be paid, or provided-for, by taxes raifed in 
Great-Brirain; but that all debts to be contracted after 
the Union fhall be confidered as belonging to the whole 
united kingdom of Great-Britain and Ireland, and be paid, 
or provided-for, by taxes raised in both countries. This 
would be neceflary to remove from the minds of the 
Irifh nation the apprehenfion of being obliged to bear a 
part of the burthen of the enormous publick debt already 
incurred by Great-Britain. 

In the third place I conceive that the tythes due to the 
Church of Ireland, and to other holders of them, ought to be 
continued and confirmed, and declared to be fo in the act 
of Union, and not changed into any modus decimandi, or 
other payment to be fubftituted for them ; in which point I 
am forry to differ from the author of the excellent pamphlet 
above-mentioned. But I have been fatisfled from what is 
advanced in Dr. William Hales's Observations on Tythes 
(which have been reprinted in England a few years ago, and 
are now to be had at Mr. White's, the bookfeller in Fleet 
Street,) ^ that no other payment can be made to the clergy 
in lieu of tythes, but what will be fubject to greater inconve- 
niences than are found to belong to the tythes, though thefe 
may fometimes be great." And, as to the objection often 

made 



269 

made to the injuftice of making the Irifh peafants, who 
are moftly Roman-Catholicks, pay tythes to the Proteftant 
Clergy, I beg leave to make an observation, which will at 
lead diminifh the weight of it, if not totally remove it. The 
burthen of paying tythes falls ultimately upon the owner of 
the land, and not upon the tenant or occupier of it, though 
the latter pays it to the re&or : for, if the tythe were totally 
abolifhed, the owner of the land would immediately raife his 
rent upon the occupier, and make him pay an additional 
fum, at leaft equal to, and often much greater than, the 
tythe which he had before paid to the re&or; and thus the 
poor Roman-Catholick occupier of land in Ireland would be 
no ways benefitted by the total abolition of the tythes. I 
have been afiured that judicious farmers in England often 
prefer a tytheable farm to one of the fame fize and fertility 
that is tythe-free, becaufe of the great addition of rent that 
is required for the latter, and which more than balances the 
tythe, or compofition for tythe, ufually paid to the rector 
for the former. Now it feems to be agreed that nine tenth- 
parts of the Land in Ireland is the property of Proteftants. 
Is it therefore unjuft that the payment of tythes, which falls 
chiefly upon the Proteftants, mould be applied to the fup- 
port of the teachers of their religion ? If there is any injuf- 
tice in the matter, it feems only to relate to the payment of 
tythes to the Proteftant rector by a Roman Catholick occu- 
pierof fuch land as belongs to a Roman-Catholick owner, be- 
caufe in that cafe the Roman-Catholick land-owner contri- 
butes to the fupport of the Proteftant religion, which he 
does not believe. But thefe cafes happen but feldom, becaufe 
of the fmall number of Roman-Catholick owners of Land 
in Ireland ; and the like irregularity happens in every coun 
try where any particular religion is eftablifhed, or its teachers 
are fupported by any fort of payments appointed by Law . 
for thefe payments mud be made by the few that do not be- 
lieve 



270 

iieve the religion fo eftablifhed as well as by the many who 
do believe it ; of which we have an example here in Eng- 
land, in the tythes paid by Roman Catholicks, and by Qua- 
kers and other Proteftant diflenters, to the clergy of the 
church of England. But my letter is growing rather too 
long, and therefore I here conclude it. 

I am, 

Your moft humble Servant, 

And Constant Reader. 
F.M. 

N.B. This Letter was fent to the Editor of the Old-Eng- 
lishman and Anti-Jacobin Examiner ; but he did not think 
fit to publifh it. 



©N 



271. 



ON PERSONS IN HOLY ORDERS BEING INELIGIBLE TO 
SERVE AS MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT. 



To the Peinter of the Porcupine, 



Mr. Editor, May 19, 1801. 

I have been somewhat surprized that in the late debates 
in the Houfe of Commons on the supposed ineligibility of 
persons in holy orders to be chosen members of that House, 
the maintainers of this excluding and disfranchising opinio 
on, have endeavoured to deduce it from the supposed Inde- 
libilityof the Prieftly Character, as if it were impossible for a 
Priest to become a member of the House of Commons, 
without first totally renouncing the character and condition 
of a Priest or aDeacon,w r hich, they say, cannot be renounced. 
How far it is possible to renounce the character and condi- 
tion of a Priest or a Deacon, is a question of spiritual, or 
canonical, law which I will not pretend to determine. But 
this I will venture to assert, " that the character and condi- 
tion of a Priest or a Deacon, though retained, is no legal bar 
to the exercise of many lay-employments, which are as 
different from the proper duties of a Priest, as that of repre- 
senting the electors of a parliamentary borough in the House 
of Commons." Of this I will mention a few examples: 
Dr. Williams, bishop of Lincoln, was Lord-Chancellor of 
England, in the protestant reign of King James the First ; 
Dr. Juxon, bishop of London, was Lord-Treasurer of 
England in the following reign of King Charles the First ; 

Dr. 



^72 

Dr. Robinson, bishop of Bristol, was one of the three 
Ambassadors of Queen Anne at the treaty of Utrecht; the 
Reverend Mr. Frederick Harvey, now bishop of London- 
derry in Ireland, and Earl of Bristol, was, for a great part 
of his life, and until he was made bishop of Derry, a clerk 
of the Privy Seal, and at this day he is permitted to sit in 
the House of Lords by virtue of his temporal peerage, as 
Earl of Bristol : and the Rev. Mr. Cholmondeley holds 
to this day the employment of Auditor-General of. the 
King's Revenues arising in America ; and hundreds of 
clergymen throughout England are justices of the peace, that 
is, criminal judges of great authority, which is surely an em- 
ployment as different from the proper duties of the priestly 
character, as granting money to the Crown, or proposing 
good laws for the better governmentof the people, in the capa- 
city of one of their representatives in Parliament. Farther, 
many persons in holy orders have been known to practice Phy- 
sick as a profession; and amongst others, the fanous Br. Willis, 
to whom the nation has great obligations for his successful 
exertions in that capacity about 12 years ago ; nay, fome 
perfons in holy orders have even held commissions in the 
army, of which one remarkable instance occurs to me at 
this moment ; I mean that of the Rev. Dr. Walker, the 
rector or vicar of Londonderry, in Ireland, who so bravely 
defended that city at the head of his zealous protestant 
parishioners, in the year 1689, against a Popish army com- 
manded by a French General, who besieged it in the name 
of King James the lid, after he had abdicated the Crown and 
King William had been appointed his successor. This 
worthy clergyman, in consequence of the success of his 
noble exertions in the defence of Londonderry, was seized 
with a fit of military ardour, which made him desirous of 
obtaining a commission in the army; and he obtained one 
from King William, though the "King is said to have advised 
him, at the same time, with his usual good sense and sound 

judgement, 



273 

judgement, to decline arty farther connection with _the army, 
and return to the exercise of his former peaceable profession. 
But, as the Doctor did not think proper to follow this good 
advice, the King gratified him by giving him a commission 
in the army; and he was killed, if I remember right, the 
next year at the famous battle of the Boyne. Now, if cler- 
gymen may exercise all these lay-employments without 
renouncing the office, or character, of a Priest, surely they 
may likewise accept the occasional and temporary employ- 
ment of representing a set of burgesses in the House of Com- 
mons, during a single Parliament, without renouncing that 
character. If, therefore, they are at present legally incapable 
of representing a County, or a Borough, in Parliament, their 
Incapacity must arise from something different from the 
supposed Indelibility of the character of a Priest; as, for 
example, from their being represented in the Convocation of 
theClergy,orfomefuchreafon. But,intmth, I think that all the 
reaions, that have hitherto been alleged in proof of their inca- 
pacity to be elected members of the House of Commons are 
frivolous and insufficient, and consequently that they are at 
present legally capable of being so elected. However, I con- 
fess, it might be inexpedient to permit clergymen that were pos- 
sessed of Benefices with cure of souls, and, perhaps, even cler- 
gymen that were Prebendaries of Cathedral churches, or who 
possessed any other clerical preferments, to have seats in the 
House of Commons; asitmighttend togivea wrongbiasto the 
ftudies and pursuits of clergymen, and thereby render them 
less respectable in the eyes of the people, and consequently 
less useful in the line of their sacred profession. And, there- 
fore, though I do not think that, as the law now stands, 
even clergymen so circumstanced are incapable of sitting in 
the House of Commons^ yet it might, perhaps, be prudent to 
pass an act of Parliament to exclude them from the House 
of Commons; and also to render them incapable of receiving 
any Benefice, or Prebend, or other church-preferment, while 

T the/ 



r<4 

they were in the Mouse of Commons, and for a certain 
time (as for example, six years) after they had been members 
of it, if they had been admitted into holy orders before they 
had been chosen members of that House, and then had 
quitted their Preferments, or Employments, in the church 
in order to qualify themselves to become members of the 
House. This incapacity of their receiving any church- 
preferment while they were members, and for a certain 
time after they had ceased to be members, of the House ? 
might be useful in preventing services done to Ministers of 
State, by supporting their measures in Parliament, from 
becoming a channel of preferment to Bishopricks, or other 
great statins in the church, which ought in general to be 
bestowed on those clergymen who distinguish themselves 
by a faithful and diligent discharge of the pastoral duties of 
their venerable profession. But to disfranchise a whole body 
of twelve, or fifteen, thousand men from becoming the re-, 
presentatives of their countrymen in Parliament, and to 
deprive the electors of members of Parliament of the liberty 
of chusing their representatives out of so numerous a body 
of well-educated, intelligent, men, whose merits may be 
known to them by their residence among them, and the 
fervices they have reecived from them, without fuch circum- 
ilances as thofe above-mentioned, (which may be thought 
to render fuch a meafure necelfary), feems to be too harfh 
and vague a method of proceeding, and not agreeable to the 
Caution andTendernefs that are ufually exhibited by theBri- 
tifh Parliament in modifying, or reftraining, the rights of 
their fellow- fubj efts. 

I remain your mod humble fervant, 

A CONSTANT READER* 

F. M. 



THE 



V 



{J 



ON THE RIGHT OF SEARCHING NEUTRAL VESSELS, IN 
ORDER TO DISCOVER AND SEIZE-ON ANY PROPERTY 
BELONGING IO AN ENEMY, THAT MAY BE ON BOARD 
THEM. 



To the Printer of the Porcupine, 

[The following communication wasfentus foon after the 
appearance of Sulpicius/s Letters. At that time, it 
was thought not altogether unexceptionable, on the fcore 
of prudence, to publim it, as it might have awakened 
doubts where none already exifted. The reader will per- 
ceive, that it was intended to excite Sulpici us to inquire 
more fully into this part of the fubjecl:, of which he had fo 
ably treated. Since the queftion has undergone fo ample a 
difcuffion, both in and out of Parliament, our Correfpond- 
ent informs us, that he has very little doubt remaining; yet 
hewifhes the matter to be placed beyond the poflibility of 
doubt, and therefore requefts, that his article may be pub- 
limed, in the hope, that it may draw-forth from Sulpi- 
ci us, or fome other writer, a full, clear, and fatisfaclory 
reply.] 



Sir, June 2, 1801. 

I think the Publick is much obliged to your very able 
correfpondent, who figns himfelf Sulpkius, for his informa- 
tion on the fubject of the armed Neutrality of the Northern 
Powers lately entered-into, to the evident prejudice of Great 
Britain. And in moft of the propositions he has laid-down. 
jn his excellent Letters, I entirely agree with him, for the 
reafons which he has alleged. He has well proved, in my 
opinion, that, as the Law of Nations now flands, where it 

t j* is 






276 

as not controled by fome particular treaty, the Britifh cruifers 
have a right to feize French property on board neutral 
veflels, and likevvife to feize goods that are neutral property 
on board neutral veffels, if the faid goods are contraband of 
<war 9 that is, military (lores, fuch as implements of war, 
falt-petre, fulphur, and other fuch materials, immediately 
applicable to warlike purpofes, and perhaps, naval for es 3 
fit for the equipment of flips of war - } though, as to this la£ 
article, there feems to be fome room for doubt. And, as a 
necefTary confequence of this right of feizure, without which 
the faid right would be nugatory and ufelefs, our cruifers muft 
.have a right to vilit, and, in fome cafes, to search, the neu- 
tral vefTels they fall-in-with on the high feas, in order to 
difcover whether they have, or have not, any property lia- 
ble to feizure. But, as to the manner of exercifing this 
right, a doubt has occurred to me, which I wish your coire- 
fpondent Sulpicius would clear-up. For, from fome weighty 
arguments alleged in ProfefTor SchlegeVs tract on this 
fubject, and from two of the treaties alleged in the Ap- 
pendix to Sulpicius's own Letters in fupport of his doc- 
trines, it appears to me that this right of vifiting and 
fearching is appointed by the general law and practice of 
maritime nations on this fubjecl:, to be performed in the 
following manner. The British armed vefTel has a right to 
flop the neutral merchant- (hip, and to fend a boat with the 
Captain of the armed vefTel, or his Lieutenant, and a Secre- 
tary, or Clerk, to write-down what mail be necefTary to re- 
cord the tranfaclion, and at moft, one perfon more, that is, 
three perfons in all, befides the failors necefTary to the row- 
ing of the boat, to vilit the neutral vefTel ; the Britifh cruifcr 
being a)\ the while at fuch a diftance from the neutral 
fhip that its cannon-mot could not reach her, to the end 
that no undue terror may influence the crew of the neutral 
fhip. Thefe two, or three, perfons3 muft be admitted on 

board 






217 

board the merchant-veffel, and muft require the Captain of it 
to produce a paflport from the King of the Country to which 
the neutral veffel belongs, (as, forexamplej the King of Den- 
mark), teftifying, 6 f That the owners of the neutral veffel 
have declared upon oath, before his cuftom-houfe officers at 
the port from which the (hip failed, that they and other 
fubje&s of the faid king are the fole owners of all the pro- 
perty put on board the faid (hip, and that the (hip 
is bound to fuch a particular port, to which (he has 
a right to trade," and he muft likewife produce a certi- 
ficate from the chief magiftrates of the port from which 
the (hip failed, declaring, " That the owners of the (hip 
had made oath, that the (hip, and all the merchandize on 
board it, belonged to them and other perfons, fubjects of the 
fame king, and not to either of the powers now at war, or to 
any of the subjects of either of the faid powers, and that 
none of the goods on board it were prohibited goods ;" and 
when this paflport and certificate have been produced to the 
three perfons appointed to vifit the ihip, they are bound to 
reft fatisfied of the fhip's having no feizable property on 
board, and they have no right to break-open any chefts, 
or open any bales of goods, or further inquire into the lad- 
ing of the fhip, in order todifcover whether the declarations 
of the paflport and certificate are true or not ; and the mer- 
chant-fhip muft be permitted to purfue its voyage unmoleft- 
ed. But, if no fuch paflport and certificate are produced, 
I prefume the cruifers may exercife their right of fearching 
for contraband goods, according to their own difcretion; 
and, likewife, if they fufpecl: fome of the goods to be ene- 
mies* property, they may detain the fhip and carry her into 
a Britifh port upon fufpicion, in order to have that matter 
deliberately inquired -into and afcertained. This feerns to 
be the regular manner of proceeding, authorized by the 
general law and practice of civilized maritime nations, with, 
refpeft to neutral merchant-fhips not efcorted by (hips of war. 

T 3 But 



278 

But, when the merehant-fhips are elcorted by a fhip of 
war, the mode of proceeding feems to be lefs certainly de- 
termined, either by practice or written documents recogniz- 
ing it, fuch as Treaties of Commerce, Marine Ordinances, 
or Inftructions of Governments to the Captains of their 
fhips of war; yet, upon the whole, we may collect it to be 
as follows. The Britifh mips of war that meet with a fleet 
of neutral merehant-fhips, efcorted by a fhip of war, ought 
to apply to the Commander of the fhip of war to know 
their deftination, and the nature of the goods that are on 
board them, inflead of fending a boat with two or three per- 
fons to vifit each of the merehant-fhips, and infpect their 
pavTporis and certificates, or other public papers : and, if 
the faid Commander declares, " That the mips and their 
cargoes are entirely the property of the fubjects of his fove- 
reign, and that none of, the goods are contraband, and that 
the proper declarations upon oath upon this fubject have 
been made by the fhippers of the goods before the magif- 
f rates, or cuftom-houfe officers, of the port in which the veflels 
were laden;" this Declaration of the Commander of the fhip 
of war that efcorts them ought to be received as fufficient 
teflimony of the fhips and their cargoes beingneutral, and not 
liable to feizure, and the faid merehant-fhips ought to be per- 
mitted to purfue their voyage withoutmrther moleftation. This^ 
at lead, is the method of proceeding prefcribed for this cafe by 
the only treaty, if I recollect rights that makes mention of this 
cafe amongft all the treaties relating to this queftion that 
have been produced, either by Profefibr SchlegeL, or Sulpi- 
clus. And it feems to be confirmed in practice by the re- 
fiftance made by Captain Dedel, a Dutch captain of a man 
of war, in the year 1762, to an attempt made by an Englifb 
fhip, or fhips of war, to vifit fome Dutch merehant-fhips^ 
which he was directed by the Dutch Admiralty to efcort ; 
and by the approbation beflowed on him by the Dutch Ad- 
miralty for having madfcfuch refiftance : and likewife by 

the 



1279 

the conduct of the brave Earl of St. Vincent, in the prefent 
war (as ftated by Profeflbr Schlegel,) in releafing a neutral 
merchant-veflel, (that had been taken by one of his cruifers, 
as fufpecled of having enemy's goods, or contraband goodsj, 
onboard, when the Commander of a (hip of war of the 
fame nation came-up a little while after, accompanied by a 
large fleet of merchant-fhips of the fame nation, that he was 
appointed to efcort, and teftified to the Earl of St. Vincent, 
that the mip which his cruifers had taken had made a part 
of this fleet, and had ftrayed from it by fome accident, that, 
had made her be confidered by their captors as afingle velTel 
and not intitled to his protection. The inftant releafe of 
this veffel by Lord St. Vincent, with an apology for the 
capture, as having been owing to a mi flake, is finely a 
pretty good proof, that fuch is the privilege of merchant- 
fhips, escorted by (hips of war, according to the opinions 
of fea-officers of the greateft Reputation and Experience. 
This privilege may certainly be abufed, and may occasion, 
fome inconveniences to the belligerent nations : and fo may 
every regulation made for the conduct of human affairs. 
But it mud be remembered that we are not now inquiring 
6C what the law of nations ought to be in fuch a cafe/* 
(which would, indeed, be a mod arduous and difficult 
queftion,) but " what it is?* And, as Great Britain has e 
throughout this war of neceffity and felf-defence, (which 
Ihe did not feek, or make, but fuflfered, or received, from 
the infolence of the French National Convention, in Fe- 
bruary, I793> when governed by the mifchievous co.unfels 
of Monfieur Briffot,) conducted herfelf with great modera- 
tion and regard tojuftice, notwithstanding the numerous 
charges of a contrary fpirit brought againft her by the dej 
claimers of France, I mould be glad to fee her perfeved in 
the fame temperate and honourable conduct to the the of 
the conteftj and., for that purpofe, avoid any attempt to make 

a new 



280 * 

a new Law of Nations on this fubjecl:, and content herfelf with 
an adherence to that Law, (such as it now is, by the confeffion 
of Mr. Jefferfon himfelf, and other perfons by no means par- 
tial to Great-Britain,) with vigour and fpirit, in oppofition to 
the wild and capricious refolutions of the variable Emperour 
of Ruffia. And that our Government and the nation may be 
truly informed ci what is the prefent Law of Nations in this 
case, of neutral merchant-mips efcorted by a fhip of war," I 
hope Sulpicius will lift the matter to the bottom, and give us 
another Letter that will clear it up to general fatisfaction, 

I am your humble servant, 

Aristides. 
F. M. 



281 
ON THE SLAVE-TRADE. 



To the Editor of the British Press, 



Sir, April$, 1805. 

It is a very important and ftriking truth, worthy the 
ferious confideration of all thofe who doubt the enorm- 
ous wickednefs of Weft-Indian Slavery, that its raoft re- 
fpectable champions, and even thofe among them who, by 
an affectation of candour, have made the molt powerful 
impreflion on the publick mind, have been obliged to refort 
to grofs mifreprefentations of the facts upon which they 
reafon. Sometimes, in order to deprive of our fympathy 
the wretched victims of colonial despotifm, fallacious repre- 
fentations have been wilfully given of their conduct and 
character ; at other times, in order to draw a veil over their 
fufferings and wrongs, advantage has been taken of the 
ignorance of the European Publick refpecting Weft-Indian 
affairs, by diclofing juft fo much of a particular fact, as 
would furnifh a bafis for an inference oppofite to the truth, 
and invidioufly fuppreffing the reft. 

Of this practice, Mr. Brougham, in his able work> enti- 
tled, An Inquiry into the Colonial Policy of the European 
Powers, has given fome examples in writers of the firft 
reputation among the Apologifts of the Weft-Indian 
fyftem. 

The cart-whip is the planter's ordinary inftrument, both 
of coercion and punifhment. When ufed for the former 
purpofe by the driver in the field, it is generally applied to 
the poor labourers in their working pofture, without flop- 
ping toftrip them of the clothes by which their backs may 

happen 



282 

happen to be defended. The effect is fumciently fevere • 
yet not fo much fo as commonly to leave permanent marks 
on the body. But when a punimment is to be deliberately 
inflicted, the patient is ftretched upon the ground, with his 
limbs extended, and the cart-whip, (which, in the hands of 
an expert driver, is a moft mercilefs inftrument of torture,) 
is vertically applied, with all his force, and with an iteration 
fometimes extending to an hundred lames, upon that 
flefhy part of the naked frame, which alone can receive 
fuch extreme difcipline, without great danger to life. Not 
only is the fcarf-fkin peeled-off by every contact of the lafh* 
but deep incifions are made, which often leave lafting fears* 
of fhocking appearance : from thefe fears very few field- 
negroes are wholly exempt. 

This general and notorious fact having been noticed by 
the Abolitionifts, in the firft difcuffion on the Slave-trade, 
but without a diftinct fpecification, as it would feem, of 
the part of the body which bore thefe badges of cruelty, 
a tour to the Windward Iflands was written by one Weft- 
Indian planter of great eminence (Sir William Young), 
and publifhed in a well-known work of another, (Hiftory of 
the Weft-Indies, by Mr. Bryan Edwards), in which the 
following paflage appears : " I particularly noticed every 
negro whom I met, or overtook, on the road • of thofe, I 
counted eleven who were dreffed as field-negroes, with 
only trowfers on, and, adverting to the evidence on the 
Slave-trade, I particularly remarked that not one of the 
eleven had a Angle mark, or fear, of the whip, &c. — Never 
pafling a flave, without obferving his back, either in the field, 
or on the road, or wenches warning in the river, I have not 
feen one back marked, befides that of the woman obferved 
on Mr. G.'s eftate, &c." 

Sir William Young's object in b ringing-forward this 
ftatement is obvioufly to difcredit the accounts which have 

been 



283 

been given of the feverity of Weil-Indian bondage. He 
is himfelf owner of feveral plantations, and therefore muft 
have had ample means of afcertaining the real ftate of the 
cafe. But fuch is the unfairnefs of the impreffion which 
his account is calculated to produce, — an unfairnefs which 
could not efcape the notice of any man having the flighteffc 
acquaintance with Weft-Indian affairs, — that Mr. Edwards 
thought himftlf bound, (from regard, it is to be prefumed, 
to his own character for veracity,) to fubjoin to the paffage 
the following note : " In the Weft-Indies the punifhment 
of whipping is commonly inflicted, not on the backs of the 
negroes, as praclifed in the discipii?ie of the Britijh foldiers, 
but, more humanely and with much lefs danger, on the partes 
pqfleriores. It is therefore no proof that the negroes whom 
Sir William Young infpected had efcaped flagellation, 
becaufe their fhoulders bore no impreffion of the whip. 
This acknowledgment I owe to truth and candour." 

The candid annotator well knew that, if the juft and 
neceflary fentenceofa court-martial were to be executed 
by the fame inftrument, and to the fame extent, as the 
arbitrary and, often, capricious mandate of a Weft-Indian 
overfeer, the back could not be the feat of punifhment 
without certain death to the fufferer. 

But of the candour of Mr. Edwards, as an hiftorian, in 
what regards this haplefs race, Mr. Brougham has furnifh- 
ed ample illuftration 5 and one inftance of it well deferves 
to be noticed. A Mr. Gallifer, a planter of St. Domingo, 
was celebrated for his mild treatment of his (laves; and the 
confequence of his lenity was, that they increafed in num- 
bers very rapidly ; but, about the year 1773, tn is gentle- 
man died, and the negroes found a new mafter of an oppo- 
fite character, who treated them fo badly, that their num- 
bers, inftead of increafing as before, continually declined. 
Thefe facts were publifhed by Mr, Ciarkfon, in 1788, in 

his 



his "Effay on the Impolicy of the Slave-trade; and as that 
period was three years anterior to the Revolution in St. 
Domingo, of courfe there could be no room for fufpicion* 
that, with a view to the events of that Revolution, Mr. 
Clarkfon could have devifed or mifreprefented the fact of 
the reverfe of treatment upon Gallifer's eftate, which had 
taken place fifteen years before he wrote , yet Mr. Edwards* 
in his Hi/lory of St. Domingo, for the purpofe of fupport- 
ing an abfurd and mifchievous calumny on the oppreffed 
African race (the charge of their being wholly deftitute of 
the natural fentiment of gratitude), has inferted the former 
part of Mr. Clarkfon's anecdote, but wholly fuppreffed the 
death of Mr. Gallifer, and the change of treatment by 
the new mafter, and has then given a Shocking account of 
the exceffes committed in the infurrection by the negroes of 
this eftate; as if the peculiar indulgence and kind treatment 
of their owner had produced the effect of making them 
more ferocious than the reft of the infurgents. 

Of fuch mifreprefentation, if wilful, for fuch a purpofe* 
it would be difficult to fpeak with the reprehenfion it de- 
ferves ; and yet, as Mr. Brougham obferves, the mutilation 
of the cafe could not be accidental. It would be difficult, 
indeed, to believe, that fo induftrious an advocate as Mr. 
Edwards had not read the work of fo diftinguifhed an 
opponent as Mr. Clarkfon, whofe very words too he in part 
ufes upon this occafion. Befides, Mr. Edwards had been 
at Cape Francois, in the near neighbourhood of this eftate, 
during the infurrection ; and he tells us, with Mr. Clark- 
fon, that the name of Mr. Gallifer had been proverbial for his 
humanity — u As happy as Gallifer's negroes :" it could 
hardly have efcaped his notice, that fo remarkable a cha- 
racter, who had been dead near twenty years, was not liv- 
ing at that interefting period. And even were it poffible 
to acquit this writer of wilful mifreprefentation in this 

cafe 



285 



cafe, his rafhnefs, in confidently afTerting fo extraordinary 
an inftance of depravity in direct oppofition to the truth of 
the cafe, muft be fatal to his credit as an hiftorian. 

It is painful to make fuch oblervations on a writer now 
no more; but Mr. Edwards, under the mafk of an affected 
candour and moderation, has done more to miflead the 
publick mind, at the expence of truth, and of the opprelfed 
African race, than all the other advocates of the Slave^ 
Syftem united : and we muft not fuffer the caufe of mil- 
lions now living, and myriads yet unborn, to be prejudiced 
by falfe tendernefs to the memory of the dead. 

Your's, 

An Abolitionist, 



cm 



286 



ON THE SLAVE-TRADE. 



To the Editor of the British Press. 



Sir, Aprils, 1805. 

The advocates for the continuance of the African Slave^ 
Trade, in the dearth of found argument for the fupport of 
their caufe., have frequently had the effrontery to make their 
appeal to the Holy Scriptures. The Scriptures undoubtedly 
record the exiftence of Slavery in ancient times ; but furely 
it would be a very unfair inference from this admiffion, that 
the Scriptures, therefore, fan&ion that trafEck in men which 
is carried-on by Britifh fubjects from the Coaft of Africa, 
for the fupply of labourers in the Weft-Indian Iflands. If 
fuch a principle of interpretation were admitted, to what ab- 
furd confequenc.es would it not kad ! The Scriptures re- 
cord the fratricide of Cain, the drunkenness of Noah, and 
the polygamy of David ; but would it be juft reafoning to 
infer, that either murder, or fenfuality and profligacy, 
were fanctioned by the word of God ? As juft, at lealt, as 
that deduced by the modern Man-Merchant from the fale 
,of Jofeph to the Midianites, or from the exiftence of bond- 
age in the Patriarchal ages, in favour of his horrid traffick. 

But let it be granted, for the fake of argument, that the 
Slavery mentioned in Scripture was fanctioned by Divine 
authority. Will this conceffion affect the queftion at iffue, 
or eftablifh the lawfulnefs of the African Slave-Trade ? 
By no means. But, before I enter upon the difcuffion of this 
fubjecl:, it will be proper to premife, that the caufe for which 
I plead has fufTered materially from the ambiguity of the 

term 



28? 

term Slavery, This vague and undefined term is applied to 
conditions of Society differing very widely in almoft every 
eflential particular. We fpeak of our becoming Jlaves, 
if a Minifter do but fufpend the Habeas Corpus A6t. The 
French are called Slaves, becaufe they do not enjoy the 
fame degree of political liberty with which Providence 
has bleffed this Island. The domeftick fervitude of Africa 
(which probably bears a clofe refemblance to Patriarchal 
bondage) is termed Slavery, and the fubjecls of it Slaves. 
Some other name, therefore, ought to be invented to ex- 
prefs Weft-Indian bondage ; for, by means of the atTocia^ 
tion of Ideas which is produced by this intercommunity 
of appellation, efpecially in the minds of perfons who have 
had no opportunity of fully inveftigating the fubjecl:, the 
African Slave-trade, together with that fyftem which it 
feeds and perpetuates in the Weft-Indies, is confounded 
with ftates of fervitude fo very mitigated as to excite no 
horror 5 and is thus relieved from a great part of its (hade. 

The fyftem of Slavery which prevails in our Weft- 
Indian colonies we believe to ftand alone in the hiftory 
of the world. It is no* only (as Mr. Pitt affirmed in 1793) 
the greatest practical evil which has ever afflicted the hu^ 
man race ; but it is an evil sui generis, fo radically and 
effentially different from every other which happens tp 
have the fame name attached to it, as fcarcely to form a fair 
ground of analogical reafoning. But let us confider this 
point more attentively. 

The miferies entailed on Africa by the Slave-Trade are* 
already fufficiently known to thePublick ; I need not, there- 
fore, dwell at prefent on that part of the fubjecl:. Let us 
follow the Slaves in the middle paffage. There, if we may 
credit the Man-Merchant, the utmoft exertions of his hu - 
manity and beneficence are employed to promote the eafe 
and comfort of his African pafTengers. But even there we 

{hall 



288 

(hall be conftrained to confefs chat his tender mercies arc 
cruel. 

In the year 1791 (three years after the paffing of the 
Slave- carrying Acl ,which is admitted by the Man-Mer- 
chants themfelves to have very greatly leffened the mortality 
on board of flave-fhips), of 15,754 flaves carried from the 
coaft of Africa, 1,378 died during the middle paffage, the 
average length of which was fifty-one days ; making a 
mortality of 8f per cent, in that time, or of 6%\ per cent. 
per annum : a rate of mortality which would unpeople the 
Earth in a year and feven months. 

The amount of the mortality in 1792 was, however, 
flill more enormous. Of 31,554 flaves carried from Africa, 
no fewer than 5,413 died on the paffage, making fome- 
what more than 17 per cent, in fifty-one days. Had the 
voyage been prolonged, and the flaves continued to die in 
the fame proportion, the whole number would have been 
completely f wept- away in about ten months*. 

I would now afk, whether it be fair, whether it be allow- 
able, to dignify a practice fo pregnant with mifery and 
murder, with the name of commerce P Surely this cannot 
long be endured by a Britifh Parliament. If it is to be 
tolerated, let us at leaft have fome fpecious pretext for the 
indulgence : let there be, at leaft, one practice pointed-out, 
either in ancient or modern flory, which will bear to be 
compared for one moment with this abominable traffick: 
otherwife we ought no longer to be impofed-upon by the 
hardy affumption of its antiquity and univerfality. 

But the horrors of the middle paffage are at length 
terminated. The flaves are landed in the Weft -Indies; 
expofed like cattle in a Fair ; fpanned and gauged with as 
little ceremony as is obferved by a carcafe-butcher in 
Smithfield 3 and, having been purchafed by fome planter, 

f See accounts laid on the table of the House of Lords, in 1799- 

are 



289 

are led to his eftate. What is, then, the (ituation of fuch 
of them as furvive the feafoning? They are the abfolute 
property of their purchafer, vendible by him precifely in 
the fame manner as the horfe which turns his fugar-mill, 
and, if direct privation of life and limb be excepted, equally 
fubjecl: to his difcretion as to the quantity of labour to be 
exacted, the proportion of food to be allowed, and the dif- 
cipline or puniihment lobe inflicted. 

During the hours of labour, they are driven, like a team 
of oxen or horfes, by the cart-whip ; and this compulsion of 
labour, by the phyfical impnlfe, or prefent terror of the whip, 
is univerfal with refpecl to fuch flaves as are engaged in 
cultivating our iflands. As to civil rights, or any political 
exiftence, they ftand on a level with the brute. Immo- 
derate cruelty to a flave is punifhable as a nuisance in the 
fame way as immoderate cruelty to cattle ; but then, it is 
always difficult, and generally impoffible, to obtain proof 
of the fact; for (let it not be forgotten) the evidence of a 
Have, or of a thoufand flaves, did they all testify the fame 
thing, would not be available in tl e fmalleft degree to the 
conviction of one who is free. This, then, is the ftate of 
bondage to which not only the imported Africans them- 
felves, but their children, and their children's children, for 
ever and for ever, are inevitably configned : and I defy 
any one to (hew, not only that a fingle circurnftance in 
this picture is exaggerated, but that it is not a matter of as 
univerfal notoriety in the Weft Indies, whatever it may 
be in Europe, as the exiftence of flavery at all. I do not 
mean, indeed, to affirm, that this fyftem is not as humanely 
adminiftered by fome Weft-Indian planters, as its nature 
will admit. But ftill fuch is the fyftem which they have ta 
adminifter. 

Let it be remarked, however, that there is one circurn- 
ftance in "he lot of Weft-Indian Slaves which renders it. 

v even 



290 

even worfe than that of brutes ; they not only feel the pre- 
fent pain, but they can remember the paft, they can 
anticipate the future, they can difcourfe, they can contrive, 
they can execute, they can diftinguifh between right and 
wrong ; they have had the infolence, at times, to exercife 
this faculty ; nay, they have even dared to prefer a claim 
to the poffefiion of humanity, by expreffing a fenfe of 
injury and injuftice, and by (hewing that they can refent 
it. Hence it is, that, while in this country, we fee men 
take pleafure in raifing their horfes and dogs to a partici- 
pation of their own enjoyments, and to a place, as it were> 
in their friendfhip and fociety; the (lave in the Weft- Indies 
is degraded and thruft-down to the very earth, left, look- 
ing upwards, fome untoward accident (hould difcover to 
him that he is a man, poflefTed of the fame common nature 
with his mafter, and equally entitled with him to feel, and 
to repel infult, and injury, and torture. 

Now, I do not hefitate to challenge all the advocates of 
the Slave-Trade to point-out, in ancient times, any ftate or 
condition of life, which bears the mod remote refemblance 
to the Weft-Indian fyftem ; viewed in all its parts, from 
its commencement in Africa, to its completion in the 
Weft-Indies. Nay, fo far is it from having any claim to 
antiquity, that I take it upon myfelf to aver that this 
fyftem, as now conftituted, is entirely a modern invention. 
It took its rife in the Antilles, about 220 years ago ; and 
(rom that time it has been gradually augmenting, until 
by the accumulating wafte of the Britifh capital and Afri- 
can blood, it has acquired its prefent hideous form and 
gigantick dimenfions. 

Still, however, it may be pertinacioufly argued thztjlav- 
ery is Jlavery, and that no doubt can be entertained of 
the exiftence of fuch a ftate of fociety among the Ifraelites. 
The bondage, however, which prevailed among the Ifrael- 
ites 



291 

ites wilt not be faid, by the mod hardy vindicator of the 
modern Man-Merchant, to have been worfe than that to 
which the children of Ifrael themfelves had been fubjecled 
in Egypt. Of that ftate they always fpoke as a ftate of 
the mod intolerable oppreffion. In comparifon of it, every 
other fervitude was light. Their deliverance from it^ as 
typical of another and greater deliverance, was called, by 
way of eminence, their redemption. So powerful was 
their impreflion of the horrors of this ftate, that the iron fur- 
nace, the furnace of affliction, and fimilar expreffions, feem 
inadequate to exprefs their conceptions of it ; and Egypt^ 
the land of their captivity, is emphatically termed the 
house of bondage : and it is by the recollection of their 
fuffering in that country, that the Almighty enforced upon 
them the injunction to be kind to the ftrangers that dwelt 
among them. 

Yet what, after all, was the nature of this Egyptian 
bondage? Was its dreadful feverity fuch as to diminifh the 
number of flaves, v and to require frefh importations to filU 
up the void which was caufed by exceflive labour, harfh 
treatment, and fcanty food ? By no means. They multi- 
plied fo rapidly as to become an object of terror to their 
oppreflbrs from their very increase. Had their labours no 
known meafure or limit, or, was it forced from them at 
the caprice of an overfeer or driver, by the compelling 
.power of the cart-whip? No fuch thing. It was the 
fubjecl: of fpecifick and uniform regulation : tafks were ap- 
pointed : the tale of bricks was previoufly named. And, 
as to food, the flefh-pots of Egypt had become proverbial 
among them. 

Having now, as I conceive, incontrovertibly eftabliflied 
the radical difference between any flavery which could 
have exifted among the Ifraelites, and that which now 
exifts in the Weft-Tndies^ I have at lead demolifhed every 

V 2 thing 



292 

thing like argument in favour of the Scriptural fancllon of 
the African Slave-Trade. I would, therefore, entreat thofe 
well-meaning men in this country, who, from unacquaint- 
ance with the real ftate of things in the Weft-Indies, have 
too readily conceded that the fyftem of Weft-Indian bond* 
age has any countenance in Scripture, to retract that concep- 
tion ; and to be no longer impofed-upon by the mere fimil« 
ari-ty of a name, when the things are in their nature fo 
eflentiallv diftinct. And let not the Man-Merchants, nor 
their advocates, any longer infult the common fenfe, to 
fay nothing of the religion, of their country, by arguments 
fo abfurd and impious. 

It will fcarcely be expected that, after this confutation of 
the argument deduced from Scripture in favour of the Slave- 
trade, I mould think it neceftary to prove the contrariety 
of thofe practices to which this trade gives birth, as well 
as of the principles on which it is founded, to the whole 
tenor and fcope both of the Old and of the New Teftament. 
That the fpirit of the Chriftian religion ftands oppofed to 
the (lave-trade is too obvious to require proof; I (hall, 
therefore, content myfelf with having rectified the mis- 
conceptions which have arifen on this fubject from the 
ambiguous nfe of the term Jlavoy, and with quoting two 
or three paflages of Scripture, which feem to have a pretty 
decifive bearing on the question. 

" Therefore all things whatfoever ye would that men 
fhould do to you, do ye even fo to them ; for this is the 
law and the prophets.'* 

" The law is made for the lawlefs a^d difobedient; 
for men- stealers." 

" And he that stealeth a man, and felleth him, or if he 
be found in his hand, he (Itall furely be put to death." 

Your's, &c. 

An Abolitionist. 



293 



FURTHER REFLECTIONS ON NEGRO-SLAVERY. 



The two preceeding Letters concerning the ftate of the 
Neo-ro-flaves in the Weft-Indies (of which 1 do not know 
who are the authors,) feem to convey a clear and diftinct 
account of the very harfh and dreadful punifliments which 
are fometimes inflicted on them by cruel mailers, or by 
the overfeers entrufted with the management of them by 
matters of a different character. But thefe great abufes of 
power over them we may reafonably fuppofe to be not very 
frequent ; and it is almoft certain that, now that (by the 
late act of Parliament for afyolifliing the Slave-trade,) the 
Weft-India planters will be deprived of the means of pur- 
chafing new Slaves from Africa, the treatment of their 
present Slaves will be much milder and more careful than 
before. For it will now be the intereft of their matters 
not to over- work their Slaves, but to require from them 
only fuch a moderate degree of labour as will contribute 
to keep them in health and vigour for many years to come, 
and enable them to raife families of children to affift them 
in their fervice to their matters, and fupply their places 
when they die. And for this purpofe, the exxellent infti- 
tution of marriage, or fome fimilar and nearly equivalent 
union between the male and female Slaves, (by allotting one 
woman to one man, to the exclufion of promifcuous con- 
cubinage,) and with a great diminution of the labour of 
the female Slaves during their pregnancy, will, no doubt, be 
eftablifhed in molt of the plantations, together with feparate 
habitations for every married couple, with proper accom- 
modations for rearing their children. And, when thefe chang- 
es in the condition of the Negro-Slaves in the Weft -Indies 
fhall be effected, (which seem to me to be almoft necettary 

u 3 confe- 



294 

confequences of the Abolition of the Slave-Trade,) they 
will be fo much happier than they had been before, that 
they will almoft ceafe to be objects of companion ; though 
it will be ftill to be wiflied that they may, in fome future 
period, and by gradual emancipations of them, by their 
Matters, as j rewards of their good behaviour and long and 
faithful fervices 5 be advanced to the ftill better condition 
of Britim freemen. This, however, cannot be done fud- 
denly, without throwing thofe Colonies into general con^ 
fufion ; as has been the cafe in the rich and populous French 
Colony of Saint Domingo, in confequence of a wild, unjuft, 
and, we may venture to fay, mad Decree pafled by the firfl 
French National AiTembly, called the Conjiituent Ajfemlly, 
which ordered all the flaves in it to be immediately confi- 
dered as freemen. But this was a meafure which Mr. 
Wilberforce, and the late Mr. Charles Fox, and Lord Gren- 
ville, and the other members of Parliament, who have for 
fo many years contended for the abolition of the Slave-trade, 
and have at length fucceeded in their noble attempt, always 
declared to be no part of their plan ; nor, as I believe, did 
any of the friends to the Abolition of the Slave-Trade, 
out of Parliament as well as in it, throughout the whole 
Kingdom of Great-Britain, ever wi(h to fee fo unjuft and 
dangerous a project undertaken. It was a meafure fit only 
to be adopted by the wild and wrong-headed enthufiafts 
of the National AiTembly of France, who, under the mild- 
eft and moft beneficent of all their kings, the virtuous 
Lewis theXVlth. (who had already granted to them in the 
Royal Seffion of the 23d of June, 1789. three weeks before 
the taking of the Baftille, all the conceflions and privileges 
effential to the permanent eftablifhment of liberty amongft 
them, which had ever been wifhed-for by their moft zealous 
and intelligent patriots,) thought fit to overturn the antienr, 
and well-eftabliflied Monarchy under which they and their 

anceftors 



295 

anceftors had lived, and under which they had, but a few 
years before, been uncommonly fuccefsful in the war they 
had carried-on again ft England in support of the revolted 
Englifh Colonies in North-America. Such a Nation only 
as France was at that time, under the dominion of a fort of 
general frenzy that feemed then to have feized them, 
could think of adopting fo extravagant and ruinous a mea- 
fure. The emancipation of the Negro-Slaves that are 
now in the Englifh Weft-Indian Colonies mull, therefore, 
be brought-about by gentle degrees, and with the confent, 
or, rather, by the fingle and feparate acts, of their feveral 
mailers. And the beft method of effecting this further happy 
change in their condition that I have any where met-with, is 
that which is described by Lieutenant John Harriott, in the 
36th chapter of his curious and valuable Hiftory of his 
own Life and Adventures, publifhed in two fmall volumes 
in duodecimo, in the year 1807, under the title of Struggles 
through Life, which I have read with great pleafure, and 
believe to be a very fair and faithful narrative of the 
feveral adventures and undertakings in which he has been 
engaged^ and in which he has exhibited great proofs of 
Courage, Induftry, found Judgement, Benevolence, and 
Publick fpirit, and has given excellent advice to prevent 
Englifh farmers from leaving Old- England to go to North- 
America, and fettle there as Land-owners, in the hopes of 
being foon poffeffed of fome hundreds of acres of good 
land, brought into good cultivation ; which hopes, he well 
obferves, will, moft probably, be grievously difappointed. 
What he has said upon this fubject brought to my recollection 
the following query of Doclor Berkley, the famous Btmop 
of Cloyne, in the former half of the lad Century. Query, 
" whether it is not poffible that a man may 'be lawful owner, 
in poffeffion, of a tract of land containing twenty thou- 
fand acres, and the land very good and capable of producing 



296 

very good crops of corn, or other ufeful vegetables; and his 
title to the land be quite clear and undifputed to him and his 
heirs for ever ; and the land clear of all mortgages, or rent- 
charges, or other burthens, or outgoings, whatfocver ; and 
yet that the faid man, though fo great a land-holder, may 
be in want of a dinner." The Bifhop had fpent a few- 
years in North-America ; and there, I conjecture, this 
query came into his head. — But to return to the fubject 
of the emancipation of the Negro-Slaves in the Weft- 
Indies, the fuggeftions of Mr. Harriott for the gradual 
attainment of this important change in their condition, 
contained in the faid 36th chapter of his ufeful and enter- 
taining work, are fo judicious, and fo well-defer ibed, that 
I {hall here prefent my readers with the whole of that 

chapter in the author's own words. 

F.M. 

From Lieutenant John Harriott's "Struggles 
through Life," vol. II. pages 232 to 248. 

" CHAPTER XXXVI. 

" Slavery in North America, in Turkey, Barbary^ the 
European States^ up the Mediterranean^ and in the East 
and Wejl Indies ; Observation on Slavery ; Hints for a 
gradual Emancipation, 

" In fome parts of my account of America, my objec- 
tions to any thing that feemed to countenance slavery are 
cursorily mentioned ; and yet I afterwards acknowledge to 
have purchaled fome flaves. I wifh to remove any appear- 
ance of inconfiftency on this head, and know not how \ 
can do it better than by giving my opinion on the long- 
contefted point for the abolition of flavery. It is an opinion 
I gave, fome years back, to a much-valued friend, who re- 
queued 



297 

quefled it when the fubject was To generally agitated and 
claimed the publick attention. It is true, fince that time, I 
have myfelf purchafed slaves ; yet have I never changed my 
opinion, but remain more and more confirmed in it. 

(i Having feen Slavery in a variety of fhapes, in different 
parts of the world, not to have confidered it would refledt 
on my humanity : I have often, very often, and with fenfa- 
tions that varied as the time and circumftances occurred; 
and I believe the sureft, fhorteft, and cleareft, way of deliver- 
ing my thoughts on the fubjecl, will be by (ketching an 
outline of the kinds of Slavery that have fallen within my 
notice. In the general acceptation of the term Slavery 
there is not, cannot be, a more fincere well-wifher for a 
proper abolition than myfelf. How that is bed to be car- 
ried into execution, fo as to produce the greater! good and 
Qccafion the lead evil, deferves ferious confideration. 

" In North- America, taking thofe parts to the northward 
and eattward of Pennfylvania, the Slaves are much happier 
from being betler fed, cloathed, and taken care of, than 4hey 
would be if left entirely to their own liberty ; I am aii ad- 
vocate, however, for reftoring them to their natural rights. 
To enfranchife the whole immediately would not be the bed 
poffible good for them. What has already been done 
(in bringing them, or their anceftors, from Africa, to make 
them Slaves) cannot be undone ; but a continuance of the 
horrid traffick is unjuft and wrong in the extreme. 

" In Turkey and Barbary there are two (or more) kinds of 
Slaves: thofe who are bought, and the Europeans who are 
made prisoners of war. The firft we may ciafs with the ne- 
groes in America and the Weft-Indies, while the latter are 
to be pitied the moft of any defcription of (laves I have 
ken. Dreadful, indeed ! is the fituation of thete, unhappy 
mortals, compared with whom the (lives in our planta- 
tions are freemen. And here we may lament that we have 

not 



298 

not the power to interfere refpecting a quick abolition of 
their Slavery. 

"It is unnecessary to notice all thefimilar kinds of Slavery 
feen in different countries ; I (hall felect thofe only that ap- 
peared to me to differ from the reft. In all the European 
Stales up the Mediterranean, they have Slaves who have 
been condemned as fueh on account of crimes. Thejuftice 
or injuftice of their sentences is no part of the prefent in- 
quiry ; but, admitting they were fairly tried and convicted, 
I hefitate not to say, I think it much more juftifiable to de- 
prive them of their liberty than to take-away their lives, let 
the crime they have committed be what it may. Of courfe 
I am no advocate for abolifhing this kind of Slavery ; yet it 
requires numerous regulations to make it anfwer the intend- 
ed purpofes of punifbment^ repentance, reformation, and ex- 
ample* 

" In the Eaft-Tndies Slavery aflumes a milder aspect, 
Slaves being chiefly bought and kept for domeftick uses. 
The native poor, with large families, in times of fcarcity, 
think they cannot do better than to difpofe of their children 
either to the opulent natives or Europeans ; and, being fold 
when young, they become ftrongly attached to their maf- 
ters or miftreffes, from whom they receive every thing, even 
to fuperfluities ; fo that to enfranchife them, and turn them 
adrift to get their own livelihood^ would be a punifhment 
in nine caies out of ten. 

" One matter of fact is worth a dozen fuppofitions. I had 
a boy fent me from Bengal to Mafulipatam, when about 
eight years old, as a prefent. My friend, who fent him, 
wrote me word it was an act of charity : for the mother had 
been fome time importuning him to take the boy for a flave ; 
and, on mentioning his intention to fend the boy fuch a 
diftance, (lie was perfectly fatisfied when informed ft was to 
an Englifh Officer of his acquaintance. The boy continued 

with 



299 

with me for fome years. When about to leave India, I 
offered him his liberty, and to fend him back to Bengal. 
On the firft mention of the circumftance, he threw himfelf 
at my feet, as I fat ; and, lifting one of them up with his 
hands, placed it on his head upon the ground, and defired 
me to kill him rather than turn him away. I accordingly 
kept him until we arrived at St. Helena, where I made 
fome ftay ; and it became a ferrous confederation upon learn- 
ing that there had lately been great difturbancces in England 
by the emancipation of fuch numbers, who, thus freed from 
fervitude and reftraint, were fwarming about the ftreets of 
London, diftreffed to the greatefl: degree. This determined 
me; I gave him his choice, to go-back to Bengal free, or to 
be placed with fome worthy family at St. Helena. Find- 
ing me refolved not to take him to England, and noticing 
how happily they lived in the ifland, he preferred being 
turned -over to a mafter and miftrefs who would take care 
of him, to having his liberty and returning to his native 
country ; and I am fatisfied he made the wifer choice. 

" The Malay (laves, that I obferved on the coaft of Sumatra, 
both in the Dutch and Englifh fettlements, differ fo little 
from thofe in the other fettlements in the Eaft Indies, that 
it is unneceflary to fay more concerning them, than that 
their Slavery frequently originates in an extravagant Ipirit of 
gaming, which induces the father, when he has nothing 
elfe to ftake, to gamble-away the libertv of his children : 
and hence, I infer, arifes that extraordinary kind of mad- 
ntfs, fo peculiar to the Malays, termed running a muck, 
I believe, the nervous fyftem of a loflng gamelter is more 
violently agitated and convulfed by the fenfe of his loffes, 
than by any other voluntary felf- inflicted operation what- 
ever; and, where the paroxyfm of the diforderhas rifen to 
fuch a height as to induce the miferable man to hazard his 
children becoming flaves to another, there is fcarcely any 

other 



SCO 

other raflinefs he can be guilty-of that need excite furprife ; 
yet the manner in which he feeks deftruction, which I 
have related in a former part,* is unaccountable. 

" I have referved to the laft my obffefvations on the treat- 
ment of (laves in our Weft-India plantations, as they only 
are the real fubjecfcs of the Abolition- ad; and I conceive the 
foregoing will not be deemed either foreign to the fubjecl:, or 
fuperfluous, fince it may help in fome degree to account for 
the apparent difference in the evidence given by different 
gentlemen before the houfes of parliament, as well as the 
contradictory accounts in the publitk papers. The inhuman 
and horrid practice of obtaining and conveying men, women, 
and children, from their native land, merely becanfe they 
are black, and therefore reckoned fitter for work in hot cli- 
mates than Europeans ; the original purchafe, conducted 
by fraud, force, and artifice ; the tranfportation and fale of 
them, in a foreign country, for (laves; altogether present 
the picture of fo diabolical a traffick, that I cannot fufficiently 
exprefs my furprize at finding there are yet advocates for its 
continuance, after the inhumanity of the practice has been 
fo ably and juftly expofed : for it is a mockery of juftice, 
as well as an infult to common underftanding, to fay, that, 
from motives of humanity, they are removed by compul- 
fion from a worfe to a better fituation. 

€C Let us fuppofe there were inhabitants of fome diftant 
country, as fuperior to us in ftrength of arms and under- 
ftanding as we efteem ourfelves to the poor Africans ,• and, 
trufting in that nrength, let us farther fuppofe they were to 
come hither, and, among others, to make free with thefe 
advocates for flavery. I imagine thefe gentry would not be 
better reconciled to their fate, from being told, by their 
matters, it was doing them a kindnefs to carry them from 

*'* Vol. I. chap. xlv. p. 205. 

home 



301 

home to live in flavery under people fo much their fuperiors; 
adding, withal, jt was likewife nece/faty, or they (their lords 
and matters) could not othervvife enjoy quite fo many fuper- 
fluities; and, 1 fear, that nothing fhort of fo forcible an 
argument could, or would, convince them. For, as Mifs 
Hannah Maria Williams obferves in one of her letters from 
France, (only I fubftitute the abolition of flavery for the de- 
molition of the Baftille,) " Thofe, who have contemplated 
on flavery without rejoicing at the profpe£t of an Abolition, 
may, for aught I know, be very refpe&able perfons, and very 
agreeable companions in the hour of profperity ; but, if my 
heart were finking in anguifh, I mould not fly to them for 
consolation." I believe it is Sterne who fays, that a man is 
incapable of loving one woman as he ought, who has not 
a fort of an affection for the whole fex. I am of the fame 
opinion; and as little ftiould I look fox particular fympathy 
from thofe who have no feelings of general philanthropy. 

" To return ; the poor Africans, thus cruelly carried-over 
to the Weft-Indies, are expofed at a publick market, fre- 
quently at a vendue, (or fale by auction,) and fold, like 
beads of burden, to the higheft bidder. Afmall proportion 
are felected for domeftick ufes ; and I am willing to allow 
fome of thefe to be ranked with the flaves in the northern 
parts of the continent of America, for comfort and even for 
pleafures, except in cafe of mifconduct:, when they are fub- 
jecl to be turned-out as field-negroes, which is often the 
cafe; under which term, we may comprehend the large 
bulk of negro-flaves. Thefe may truely be called misera- 
ble Slaves ; for, although it may be allowed that in fome of 
the plantations they are treated with humanity, yet thofe 
who are treated the very beft, among the working field- 
negroes, it is a cruel lot tofuppofe any fellow-creature to be 
born-to, or to be fubjected-to by theiron hand of power, with- 
out having committed an offence. What, then, muft be the 

de- 



302 

deplorable fate of thole unhappy wretches who are the pro- 
perty of matters, (I am forry to fay miftreffes, too), whofe 
hearts are callous to every feeling of humanity towards them ? 
ImprelFed from their cradles with the idea that their (laves 
are little, or nothing, fuperior to the brute creation ; they 
treat them accordingly. 

" In my youthful days I remember to have feen at Savan- 
nah-la-Mar, in Jamaica, a Creole lady (as fhe was called) 
ftand by while one of her negro-wenches was fo feverely 
Hogged, in the publick place, by one of her negro men- 
flaves, that, if a drayman were fo to flog his horfe in the 
flreets of London, I am perfuaded the populace would wrefl 
the whip from his hands, and retaliate upon him the injuries 
of the animal. Yet, fo accuftomed to thefe fights and 
fcreamings of the poor wretches were the people at Savan- 
nah, that they pall along unconcerned, until attracted by 
the greater novelty of a youth, like myfeif, interfering, by 
alking the mifisefs if (he was not afhamed of herfelf. The 
good lady then poured forth fuch a torrent of abufe, plenti- 
fully decorated with oaths, as to provoke a retort fimilar ; 
until, foaming at the mouth like a mad creature, fhe re- 
treated into her houfe, curling me for a cff dom torry orse, 
impudent failor-fellow.' 

" What Mr. JerTerfon remarks, of the conduct of themaf- 
ter to the fiave in Virginia, is equally, if not more, applica- 
ble to the Weft-India ill and s. The whole commerce be- 
tween malter and (lave is a perpetual exercife of the molt 
boifterous paffions, the moft unremitting haughtinefs, on the 
one part, and degrading fubrniffion on the other. The chil- 
dren fee this, and learn to imitate it, man being an imitative 
snimal. This difpofition to imitate is the germ of all education 
in him; from his cradle to his grave he is learning to do what 
he fees others do. If a parent could find no motive, either 
in his philanthropy or his felf-love, for retraining the in- 
temperance 



303 

temperance of his paflions towards his {lave, the prefence 'of 
his child mould always be a fufficient one. The parent 
dorms ; the child looks-on, catches the lineaments of wrath, 
puts-on the fame airs in the circle of fmaller flaves, gives a 
loose to his worft paffions ; and, thus nursed, educated, and 
daily exercifed, in tyranny, cannot but be (tamped by it with 
odious peculiarities. 

" God blefs the Duke of C ! I truft he speaks honefily, 

as far as he knows. But his royal highnefs, as well as fome 
other refpectable characters, mufl excufe me for obferving, 
that their knowledge reflecting the treatment, usage, and 
mode of living, of the hard-working field-negroes on the 
plantations, rauft neceffarily be much confined. The moll 
thatthefe men of high rank have an opportunity of obferv- 
ing is among the houfehold, or domeflick, negroes, where our 
opinions may partly coalesce. But, admitting that, out of 
curiofity, they may have vifited many, and fome of the worft, 
of the (maltreated) negro-plantations, is it not evident to 
common fenfe, that the owners, or managers, of fuch planta- 
tions would take the greater! care that every thing mould 
appear in its bed during fuch vifits ? Of courfe, they fee no 
negro-driver flourifliing and cracking his whip over the ne- 
groes at work, to try his dexterity in cutting a musquito off 
any of their backs, merely to amufe himfelf. Nay, if thefe 
vifitors condescended to inquire of the poor devils themfelves, 
the wretched beings too well know they dare not pour 
their forrows into the ear of any but fuch as, like myfelf, 
(being, at the time I allude to, in too humble a ftation to 
attract the notice of their mafters,) could obferve their cuf- 
tomary daily treatment, with their hard, fcanty, fubfiftence. 
And, while employed, in the long-boat of the fhip I belong- 
ed-to, to fetch-off fugars, rums, &c. from various diftant 
plantations, I have frequently entered their huts with famili- 
arity, at night, to give them a fpare piece of salt-beef or pork, 

I believe 



S04 

I believe it was a fituation as likely as any to obtain inform- 
ation on the fubjecT:, free from partiality or prejudice, ad- 
mitting the obferver to have any human affections remain- 
ing; and, where a perfon has had frequent opportunities of 
obfervation, it requires no very great abilities to form a to- 
lerable judgement on the fubjecl:. 

" I do not hefitate, therefore, in faying that the traffick of 
tranfporting frefh (laves from Africa ought, in common 
juftice, to ceafe immediately; as it cannot be juftified on any 
principle of humanity, expediency, or neceffity. So far, 
then, I again exprefs my furprize that there mould be two 
opinions on the fubject, among men who are not interefted 
in it. The fons of Mammon are out of the queftion : for 
tliey, whether in the femblance of merchants, {hip-owners, 
or planters, will endeavour tojuftify it under fanction of 
tkeir religion, felf-interefl ! 

" The great and almoft only difficulty, I conceive, is in 
forming and adopting such a plan, for their gradual eman- 
cipation, as will beft anfwer the humane intention of re- 
leafing fo many thoufands of our fellow-creatures from bond- 
age. To do this haftily, to fay to them, u Ye are all free 
from this inftant," would be nearly as cruel as the flrft enflav- 
ing them. If there were only a few hundreds, or thoufands, 
thinly fcattered over the iflands, it mattered not how foon it 
was done; but the liberation of fuch a multitude, whofe 
numbers far exceed the Europeans, from whom they mull 
(whether freemen or flaves) expect a maintenance for a con- 
fiderable time to come, would not only be productive of 
the worft confequences to thofe Europeans, but equally fo 
to themfelves : the exceffes, fo fudden an intoxication would 
plumre them into, would be dreadful. 

(i Probably, much better plans than I have to offer, for ac- 
complifhing this defirable end, may have been fuggefted ; 
and I hope they will be adopted. But the following was 

what 



305 

what I propoied to carry into execution, if I had settled on 
any of the fouthern ftates of America, where {laves alone at 
prefent perform the work ; and from this I had pro-mi fed 
myfelf no fmall gratification, in the good I might have done 
as an individual, and a hope that the example might induce 
others to do the fame, when they found it their intereft, 
whatever their principles might be. 

Under their prefent owners, they have not the most dif- 
tant profpecl: of gaining their liberty: to purchafe fuch 
Haves, with a view to afford them an opportunity of work- 
ing-out their own redemption, I believe is juftifiabJe. Suppos- 
ing, then, I had purchased a number of Haves, worth on 
an average fifty pounds each ; on becoming their matter, to 
encourage them in diligence and good behaviour, I would 
have allowed them one day in each week to work for them- 
felves, allotting a piece of ground to each to work upon ; 
alluring them, that whoever, by their induftry and frugal- 
ity, faved a fifth part of their prime coft, (fay ten pounds,) 
mould then be entitled to purchafe, with that money, an- 
other day to work upon their own account, and fo on until 
they cleared the whole of their time. Poffibly, it will ad- 
pear to fome people that along time would be required foi a 
flave in this manner to emancipate himself compleatly : but k 
isfar from being so. Afreenegro can eafily earn half-a-crown a 
day, moftof them twiceas much; a flave is found in ihenecefTa- 
ries of life andcloathingbyhis matter. We will fuppofe, then, 
that he earns no more than half-a-crown on the day firft given 
to him, calling it Saturday, and that he expends one milling 
on himfelf ; he then lays-by eighteen pence a week. Trifl- 
ing as this may appear, at firft view, to the accomplish- 
ment of fo great an end, it will enable him to make his 
firft purchase, of another day of freedom in the week, in 
little more than two years and a half. Should he then ap- 
ply the whole additional earnings to the former eighteen 

x pence, 



306 



pence, one other year will purchafe him another day of li- 
berty; and the heavieft half of his talk is then accomplished. 
He is now half free, beginning to feel a proportionate 
confequence, and may probably increafe his own enjoy- 
ments a little more. Admitting this, in two years, or two 
years and a half, more, he may compleat the full purchafe 
of his freedom ; but if, inftead of fix years, it (hould even take 
them feven, eight, or nine, years, it would be far better for them 
than if they had their full liberty and freedom at once 3 and, 
being the work of their own hands, by favour of their mafter, 
it inculcates two good principles: induftry, with a true know- 
ledge of its value, from which it is likely to become habitual) 
and gratitude to their mafter, whofe work they will then 
be happy to do as free fervants. Nor have I much doubt 
but that the pleating hope of fuch liberation, while thev are 
gaining it bv degrees, will afford them nearly, if not quite, 
as much comfort as the final attainment of it. At any 
rate, the gradual acquirement of it will be the beft means 
to prevent their being madly intoxicated at the completion. 
They will know the value better, and will have gained 
fjch habits of induftry and frugality as to infure their future 
welfare. The owner receives the full value, with an am- 
ple intereft, from the work done for him, and will alfoenjoy 
the high mental gratification of liberating a fellow- creature 
from flavery. 

In the account of my farm in the ftate of New-York, I 
have mentioned the model adopted there for liberating those 
I purchafed, which was as fimilar to the foregoing as the dif- 
ference of climate and country would permit ; and the gen- 
tlemen, with whom 1 left them upon the farm;, engaged to 
fulfil and purfue the fame plan. 

I allow that the bulk of the (laves employed in the Weft- 
India plantations have the appearance of being but a few 
degrees above the brute creation ; but it is their fituation 

which 



30? 

which makes them fo. Teach them better by good usage, 
and ftimulate them to induftry by fweetening their bitter 
cup with a cheering profpecl: of obtaining their liberty ; and 
they will foon exhibit sufficient proof of their capacity to de- 
ferve and enjoy it. At our family-devotions on Sundays, 
my negroes, whom I called-in to attend likewife, could 
fcarcely conceive what was propofed ; yet in a fhort time, 
from receiving tue belt inftru&ions in my power, and per- 
ceiving, in my addrefs to the one Almighty God, that they 
were confidered as equal in his eye, according to their de- 
ferts, they attended, with earneftnefs and gratitude, to be 
better informed of their dependence on his Providence for 
the comforts of this life, with the hope of a better hereafter. 
Thefe were circumftances, concerning which their former 
owners had never given them the fmalleft inftruction. 

I muft acknowledge there was one thing refpecting the 
negroes in fome parts of America, which aftonifhed me 
much; nor was I ever able to account for it to my own 
fatisfaction : but truth requires it to be mentioned. 
On the subject of flavery, every feeling heart will natural- 
ly fympathize for the parent whofe mind, we fuppofe, muft 
be tortured with agony when he considers his children born 
to perpetual flavery ; yet how fhall we account for the very 
common pra&ife, among the free negroes in America, of 
preferring to marry yZa^-wenches, by which they make all 
their children flaves ? The fact is fo ; and the only reafon 
I could learn, or can affign, for it,is "that they value nottheir 
liberty at the price of their maintenance. " But poffibly this 
may arife from the long degradation of their minds, which 
a more liberal treatment and enlightening education might 
correct and bring-back to a natural fenfe of parental duties. 

END OF MR. HARRIOTT'S CHAPTER ON NEGRO-SLAVER V. 



THE 



SOS 

THE PRE-EMINENCE AND DUTY 

OF 

PARLEMENT. 

Written in the year 1646, by James Howell, Esq. 



The following difcourfe on the Englifh Parliament is the 
firft fe&ion of a political tracl written about the year 1646, 
by James Howell, Esquire, an eminent writer of that time, 
who was attached to the party of King Charles the Firft, 
in the time of that Great Civil War, andwas imprisoned in 
the Fleet-prifon during feveral years by order of the Parlia- 
ment, on account of fuch attachment to the Royal cause: 
but after the restoration of King Charles the Second, he 
was itiade Historiographer royal to that King; and in the 
yearr < 6\, he publifhed at London a fmall volume in duo- 
decimo, containing twelve fmall traces, relating to the caufes 
of the late civil wars and revolutions in England, Scot- 
land, and Ireland, which he had written many years before 
at different times, in the courfe of the faid Civil War, 
In this volume, page 343, &c. I met with this defcription 
of the nature and powers of the Englifh Parliament, which, 
I thought, exhibited fo juft and lively a picture of the advan- 
tages belonging to the Limited Monarchy of England, under 
a king and two houfes of Parliament, that I resolved tp pre- 
fent it to my readers in this mifcellaneous collection pf 
fmall traces relating chiefly to political fubje&s. 

F. M. 



I am a free-born suhjed of the realm of England ; 
whereby 1 claim, as my native inheritance, an undoubted 
right, propriety, and portion in the Laws of the Land: and 
this difiinguimeth me from a Jlave k I claim likewife 

this 



309 

protection from my foverain Prince; who, as he is my liege 
Lord, is obliged to protecl me\ and I, being one of his liege 
people, am obliged to obey him, by way of reciprocation. 
I claim alfo an intereft and common right in the High 
National Court of Parlement, and in the power, the privi- 
ledges, and jurisdiction thereof, which I put in equal ballance 
with the haws, in regard it is the fountain whence they 
fpring ; and this I hold alfo to be a principal part of my 
Birth right : which Great Council I honour, refpect, value 
and love in as high a degree as can be, as being the bul- 
wark of our liberties, the main boundary and hank which 
keeps us from flavery, from the inundation of tyrannical rule, 
and unbounded will -government. And I hold myfelf 
obliged in a tye of indifpenfable obedience, to conform 
and fubmit myfelf to whatfoever nhall be tranfa6led, con- 
cluded, and constituted by its authority, in Church or State, 
with the Royal afTent, whether it be by making, enlarging, 
altering, diminishing, difannulling, repealing, or reviving, of 
any law, ftatute, a£t, or ordinance whatfoever, either 
touching matters ecclefiaftical, civil, common, capital, 
criminal, martial, maritime, municipal, or any other; of 
all which the tranfcendent and uncontrollable jurifdicYion 
of that Court is capable to take cognizance. 

Amongft the three things which the Athenian Captain 
thanked the gods for^ one was, that he was born a Grecian, 
and not a Barbarian ; (for fuch was the vanity of the Greeks, 
and, after them, of the Romans in the flouriiTi of their mo- 
narchy, as to arrogate all civility to themfelves, and to terme 
all the world befides Barbarians:) fo I may fay that I rejoyce, 
that I was born a vafTall to the Crown of England', that I was 
born underfo well moulded and tempered a Government, which 
endows the fubjecl: with fuch Liberties and infranchifements 
that bear-up his naturall courage, and keep him Mill in heart 
fuch Liberties that fence and fecure him eternally from 

x 3 the 



310 

the gripes and tallons of Tyranny : And all this maybe 
inputed to the Authority and wifedome of this High Court 
of Parlement, wherein there is fuch a rare co-ordination of 
power (though the Soveraignty remain ftill entire, and 
untransferable, in the perfon of the Prince) there is fuch a 
wholfom mixture 'twixt Monarchy, Opti?nacy, and Demo- 
cracy, 'twixt Prince, Peers, and Commonalty, during the 
time of confuitation, that of fo many diftinc~t parts, 0y a 
rare co-operation and unanimity, they make but one Body 
politick, (like that fheafe of arrows in the Emblem) one 
entire concentricall peece, the King being dill the Head, 
and the remits of their deliberations but as fo many har- 
monious diapafons anting from different firings. And 
what greater immunity and happinefle can there be to a 
Peeple, than to be liable to no Laws but what they make 
themfelves : to be fubject to no contribution, aflefTement, 
or any pecuniary erogations whatsoever, but what they 
Vote, and voluntarily yeeld unto, themfelves: for in this 
compacted politick Body, there be all degrees of people 
reprefented ; both the Mechanick, Tradefman, Merchant, 
and Yeoman have their inclufive Vote, as well as theGentry, 
in the perfons of their Truftees, their Knights and 
Burgeffes, in pafling of all things. 

Nor is this Soveraign Surintendent Council an Epitome 
of this Kingdom only, but it may be faid to have a repre- 
sentation of the whole Univerfe; as I heard a fluent, well- 
worded, Knight deliver the laft parliament^ who compared 
the beautifull compofure of that High Court to the great 
work of God, the World itfelf ; the King is as the Sun, 
the Nobles the fixed Stars, the Itinerant Judges and other 
Officers (that go upon Meffages 'twixt both houfes) to the 
Planets ; the Clergy, to the Element of Fire ; the Commons, 
to ihc folid Body of Earth, and the reft of the Elements. 
And, to purfue this comparifon a little farther; as the hea- 
venly 



311 



venly Bodies, when three of them meet in Conjunction, do 
ufe to produce fonie admirable effects in the Elementary 
World; So when thefe three States convene and affemble 
in one folemne great Iunta, fome notable and extraordinary 
things are brought-forth, tending to the welfare of the 
whole kingdom, our Microcofme. 

He that is never fo little verfed in the annals of this Isle, 
will find that it hath bin her fate to be four times conquered* 
I exclude the Scot: for the fituation of his Country, and the 
Quality of the Clime, hath been fuch an advantage and 
fecurity to him, that neither the Roman Eagles would fly 
thither for fear of freezing their wings, nor any other 
Nation attempt the work. 

Thefe, fo many, Conquefts muft needs bring with them 
many tumblings and toffings, many difturbances and chang- 
es in Government; yet I have obferved, that, notwithftand- 
ing thefe tumblings, it retained Mill the forme of a Monarchy, 
and fomething there was always that had an Analogy with 
the great Affembly of parlement. 

The firft Conqueft I find was made by Claudius Cafari 
at which time (as fome well obferve) the Roman Enjignes 
and the Standard of Cbrijl came-in together : It is well 
known what Lawes the Roman had ; He had his Comitia, 
which bore a refemblance with our Convention in parle- 
ment ; their place of their meeting was called prcetorium, and 
the Laws which they enacted, Plebifcita. 

The Saxon Conqueft fucceeded next, which were the 
Englijh, there being no name in Weljh or Irijh for an 
Englifhman, but Saxon, to this day. Thefe alfo governed 
by Parlement, though it were under other names, as Michel- 
Sinoth, Michel Gemote, and Witena Gemote* 

* These words mean the Great Sj/nod, the Great Meeting, and 
the Meeting of wise men. 

There 



312 

There are Records, above a thoufand years old, of thefr 
Varlements in the Reigns of King Ina, Offa, Ethelbert, and 
the reft of the feven Kings during the Heptarchy, The 
Britijb Kings alfo, who retain'd a great while fome part 
of the Ifle unconquered, governed and made Laws by a 
kind of Parlementary way; witneffe the famous Laws of 
Prince Howell, called Ho will Dha, (the good Prince 
Howell) whereof there are yet extant fome Britifh Records. 
Varlements were alfo ufed after the Heptarchy by King 
Kenulphus, Alphred, and others : witneffe that renowned 
Parlement held at Grately by King Atheljlan. 

The third Conqueft was by the Danes : and they govern'd 
alfo by fuch generall Affemblies, (as they do to this day) 
witneffe that great and fo much celebrated Parlement held 
by that mighty Monarch Canutus, who was King of 
England, Denmark, Norway, and other Regions 150 years 
before the compiling of Magna Charta; and this the 
learned in the Laws do hold to be one of the fpecialeft and 
moft authentick peeces of antiquity we have extant. Ed- 
ward the Confeffor made all his Laws thus, (and he was 
a great Legiflator,) which the Norman Conquerour (who, 
liking none of his fons, made God Almighty his heir by 
bequeathing unto him this Ifiand for a legacy) did ratifle 
and eftablifh, and digefted them into one entire methodicall 
Syfteme, which being violated by Rufiis, (who came to 
fuch a difaftrous end as to be mot to death in lieu of a 
Buck for his facriledges) were reftor'd by Henry the firfl; 
and fo they continued in force till King John -, whofe Reign 
is renowned for firft confirming Magna charta, the founda- 
tion of our Liberties ever Since; which may be compared 
to divers outlandifh grajfes set upon one Englifh flock ; or U 
a pojie of fundry fragrant flowers ; for the choiceft of the 
Britifh, the Roman, Saxon, Danijh, and Norman Lawes 
being cull'd and piek'd-out and gathered, as it were, into one 

bundle. 



sis 

bundle, out of them the forefaid Grand Charter was extract 
ed ; and the eftablifhment of this great Charter was the work 
of a Parliament. 

Nor are the Lawes of this IJland only, and the freedome 
of the Subject in it, conferved by a Parlement ; but all the 
beft-policed Countries of Europe have the like. The Ger- 
manes have their Diets, the Danes and Swedes their Rijck 
Dacbs ; the Spaniard calls his Parlement las Cortes; and 
the French have, (or mould have, at leaft) their Affemhly of 
three States, though it be growne now in a manner obfolete, 
becaufe the authority thereof was (by accident) devolv'd to ofthekir 
the King. And very remarkable it is, how this happened ; °jj^ n ^ 
for, when the En&lifh had taken fuch large footing in mod imposing 

t3.xcs on 

parts of France, having advanced as far as Orleans and subjects 
driven their then King Charles the feventh, to Bourges in ^\^\ 
Berry, the AJfembly of the three States in thefe preflures, France, 
being not able to meet after the ufual manner in full Par- consent 
lement becaufe the Countrey was unpayable, the Enemy states of 
having made fuch firme invasions up and down through 2} e lW-' { 

o r & Nobility 

the very bowels of the Kingdom ; that power which for- °r Genu 

1 • , • . 4V , Arr 77 r and the 

merly was inhaerent in the Parlementary AJJembly, or Third Ei 
making Laws, of afleffing the Subject with taxes, fubfidiary commo 
levies, and other impofitions, was tranfmitted to the King alt y- 
during the war ; which continuing many years, that entruft- 
ed power by length of time grew, as it were, habitual in him, 
and could never after be re-aflumed and taken from him -, 
fo that ever fince, his EdiBs countervaile Acls of Parle- 
ment. And that which made the bufineffe more feafable 
for the King, was, that the burthen fell moft upon the 
Comrhunalty \ the Clergy and Nobility not feeling the 
weight of it, and being willing to fee the peasan pulPd- 
down a little, becaufe, not many years before, in that nota- 
ble Rebellion, call'd la Jaquerie de Beauvoifin, which was 
fuppreflfed by Charles the ivife, the Common people put 

themfelves 



314 

themselves boldly in Arms againft the Nobility and Gentry, 
to leSeii the r power* Adde hereunto, as an advantage to 
the work, that the next fnrceeding King, Lewis the eleventh^ 
was aclofe cunning, Prince, and could well tell how to play 
his game, and draw water to his own mill 5 For, amongft 
all the reft, he was faid to be the firft that but the Kings of 
France. Hors depage, out of their minority, or from being 
Pi gres any more, though thereby he brought the poor pea- 
fans lo be worfe than Lacquays, and they may thank them- 
selves for it. 

Nevertheleffe, as that King hath an advantage hereby 
one way, to Monarchize more abfolutely, and never to 
want money, but to ballajl his pur Je when he will ; lb there 
is another mighty inconvenience arifeth to him and his 
whole Kingdom another way ; for this peeling of the Pea- 
Jan hath fo dejected him, and cowed his native courage fo 
much by the fenfe of poverty (which brings along with it a 
narrowneffe of foul) that he is little ufeful for the war: 
which puts the French King to make other Nations mer- 
cenary to him, to fill-up his Infantery : Infomuch, that the 
Kingdom of France may be not unfitly compared to a body 
that hath all it's bloud drawn-up into the arms, breaft, and 
back, and fcarce any left from the girdle downwards, to 
cherifh and bear- up the lower parts, and keep them from 
ftarving. 

All this ferioufly considered, there cannot be a more pro* 
per and pregnant example than this of our next Neighbours 
to prove how infinitely neceflary the Parlement is to affert, 
to prop-up, and preferve, the publick liberty, and national 
rights of a people, with the incolumity and welfare of a 
Countrey. 

Nor doth the Subjecl only reap penefit thus by Parlement, 
but the Prince, (if it be well confider'd) hath equal advan- 
tage thereby. It rendreth him a King of free and able 

men; 



315 

men -, which is far more glorious than to be a King of Cow- 
ards, Beggars, and Bankrupts ; Men that, by their freedom 
and competency of wealth, are kept ftili in heart to do him 
fervice againft any forrain force. And it is a true maxime in 
all States, that 'tis lelTe danger and dishonour for the Prince 
to be poor, than his people : Rich Subjects can make their 
King rich when they pleafe ; if he gain their hearts, he 
will quickly get their purfes. Parlement encreafeth love 
and good intelligence 'twixt him and his people : it 
acquaints him with the reality of things, and with the true 
ftate and difeafes of his Kingdom ; it brings him to the 
knowledge of his better fort of Subjects, and of their abili- 
ties, which he may employ accordingly upon all oceafions; 
It provides for his Royal lffue, pays his debts, finds means 
to fill his Coffers; and it is no ill observation, that parle- 
ment- moneys (the great Aid) have profpered be ft with the 
Kings of 'England'. It exceedingly rai eih his repute 
abroad, andenableth him to keep hisyo^ in fear, his Sub~ 
jedls in awe, bis Neighbours and Confederates in feeuritj } 
the three main things which go to aggrandize a Prince, 
and render him glorious. In fumme, it is the Parlement 
that fupports, and bears-up the honour of his Crown, and 
fettles his throne in fafety ; which is the chief end of all 
their confultations : for whofoever is entrufted to be a 
Member of this High Court, carryeth with him a double 
capacity ; he fits there as a Patriot, and as a Suljecl : as he 
is one, the Country is his object, his duty being to vindicate 
the publick liberty, to make wholefome Lawes; to put his 
hand to the pump, and ftop the leaks of the great veffel or 
the State ; to pry into, and punifh, corruption and oppref- 
fion ; to improve and advance trade; to have the grievances 
of the place he ferves-for redreffed, and to caft-about how to 
find Something that may tend to the advantage of it. 

But he muft not forget that he fits there alfo as a Subjetl : 

and 



J\6 



and according to that capacity, he mud apply himfeif to do 
his Sovereign's bufineffe, to provide, not only for his publick, 
but his perfonal, wants ; to bear-up the luftre and glory of 
his Court; to confider what occafionsof extraordinary ex- 
pences he may have, by encreafe of Royal iffue, or mainte- 
nance of any of them abroad ; to enable him to vindicate 
any affront, or indignity, that might be offered to his perfon,. 
Crown, or dignity, by any forrain State or Kingdom, or 
intefline Rebellion ; to confult what may enlarge his honour ^ 
contentment, and pleasure. And as the French Tacitus 
(CominesJ hath it, the Englifh Nation was ufed to be more 
forward and zealous in this particular than any other; 
accordingtothat ancient, eloquent, fpeech of a great Lawyer, 
Domum Regis vigilia defendit omnium, otium illius labor 
omnium, delicice illius indujlria omnium, vacatio illius 
occupatio omnium, falus illius periculum omnium, honor 
illius objeclum omnium. Every one mould ftand Centinell 
to defend the King's houfe, his safety fhould be the danger 
of all, his pleasures the induftry of all, his eafe fhould be 
the labour of all, his honour the objeB of all. 

Out of thefe premifles this concluflon may be eafily de- 
duced, that, the princip all fountain whence the King derives 
his happiness and. safety, is his parlement ; it is that great 
Conduit-pipe which conveighes unto him his people's 
bounty and gratitude; the trueft Looking-glaffe wherein 
he difcernes their loves; (now the Subjecls love hath been al- 
ways accounted the prime Cittadell of a Prince J In his Par- 
lenient he appears as the Sun in theMeridian, in the altitude 
of his glory, in his higheft State Royal, as the Law tells us. 
Therefore whofoever is averfe ordifaffected to hisSoveraign 
Law-making Court, cannot have his heart well- planted 
within him ; he can be neither a good Subject, nor a good 
patriot, and therefore is unworthy to breath Englifh air, 
or have any benefit, advantage, or protection from the Laws. 

END OF Mr. HOWELL'S DISCOURSE ON PARLIAMENTS 



31 



A MEMORIAL 



PRESENTED TO 



QUEEN ELIZABETH, 

AGAINST HER MAJESTY'S BEING ENGROSS'D BY ANY 
PARTICULAR FAVOURITE. 



Written by WILLIAM CECIL, Lord Burleigh, then Lord 
High Treasurer of England* 



May it pleafe your Majefty, 

Full of Affurance, that my unfeigned Zeal for your 
Majefty's Inter eft and Service, will be evident in what I 
humbly prefume to Remonftrate to Your Majefty ; I shall 
venture to speak my mind with a Freedom worthy the noble 
End and Aim of my Design, When any Man, that is 
as ambitious as myfelf of engaging your Majesty's good 
Opinion of my Actions, and your Favour on my Endea- 
vours, fhall attempt to plead againft any Particular's en- 
grojjing your Royal Ear, he cannot well be fufpected of 
directing his Difcourfe and Sollicitations on that Head to 
any private Intereft and Advantage : Since, by advancing 
the contrary Pqftion, he might hope perhaps, in time, and 
in his turn, by the force of Induftry and Application, to en- 
joy the Benefit of it. 

Secure 



318 

Secure, therefore, in my Zeal for the Welfare of my 
Prince and my Country, I mall venture to appeal to your 
Majefty's Knowledge of Hiftory, whether it afford any one 
Inftance of that Nature, which has not been, or was very 
likely to be, of fatal Confequence to the Prince ox the people , 
or both. I will not infill on Sejanus, or any other of the 
Roman Minions, to whofe Ambition or Avarice, when the. 
Nobility had fallen in Numbers, and the people felt the 
Rage of their exorbitant Paflons, unfatisfy'd with what 
they poflefs'd, they have aim'd at the Life and Throne of 
the Prince that raifed them. The Reason of which is plain; 
becaufe, having only themfelves and their own private Ad- 
vantage in view, they make ufe of the Prince only as the 
means of their own Grandeur, without any regard to his 
real Service, or the Publick Good, againft which it is im- 
poffible to do the Princea. 

A King, by his Royal Office, is the Father of his Country; 
whofe Eye ought to watch over the Good of all and every 
one of his Subjects, in the juft execution of the Laws, and 
the impartial difpenfation of Prerogative; in Redr effing of 
Grievances, Rewarding Vertue, Puni/hing Vice, Encourag- 
ing Indzcfiry, and the like. But Princes, though the Vice- 
gerents of Heaven, being not endued with Omnifcience, can 
only know thefe Grievances, Virtues, Vices, IndufUy, &c. 
of the People, and their several Exigencies, by the Eyes 
aud Information of others ; nor can this be done by truft- 
ing to any one particular Favourite, who having no more, 
nor larger, Qualifications than his Prince, can have no 
other means of informing him aright, than what his Prince 
has without him. Nay, it may very well be faid, that 
he has not any means fo sure and infallible ; for the Prince, 
if he confult his Great Councils, and only adhere to their 
Publick Dec'ifions, cannot mifs of knowing all that is ne- 
ceffary to be known for his own Glory, and his people's 

Good-, 



319 

Good ; which are infeparable : but the Favourite, having 
private Defigns to carry-on, receives his Information from 
thofe, who muft reprefent things to him as he would have 
them, by that means to make their Courts and fecure that 
Succefs to their Wifties, for which they daily pay the Ador- 
ation of fo much flattery. But, if, by the wonderful Per- 
fpicuity and Application of the Favourite, he fhould attain 
a true knowledge of the ftate of things ; of the Inclinations^ 
and Defiresof the people; it is Forty to One, that, thefe 
claming with his private Aims, he gives them another Face 
to the Prince, a turn more agreeable to his feparate Inter eft, 
though equally deftru&ive of his Mafter's and Country 's 
Good. 

The only way, therefore, for a Prince to govern wtth 
fatisfa&ion to his own Confcience is to be the Common Fa- 
ther ofz\\ his Country, to hear the advice ofaW his councellors, 
and to have an open Far to all the Grievances and necejjities of 
all his People. Which can never be done while any One 
Man has the luck to pofTefs the Royal Favour fo far as to 
make his Advice an over-balance to the whole Nation, 
They gain by that means a Power, which they extreamly 
feldom, if ever, ufe for the People's or Prince's Advantage, 
but moft commonly, if not always, to the deftru&ion of 
both. There are Examples enough of this to alarm any 
Wife and Politick Prince. The Mayors of the Palace in 
France, at lafl poflfefled the Throne. And Domeftick In-* 
fiances might be given of thofe, who, by their excefjive 
Power, have, if not themfelves poflfeiPd, yet deprived and 
fet whom they pleased on the Throne. 

But, omitting what your Majefty knows extreamly well, 
I (hall only give you a view of a great Favourite in the 
Reign of your Royal Father ; a true Profpect of whofe 
Practices and Ambition, may warn your Majefty againft 
all thofe, who wou'd cngrofs not only your Majefty's Ear, 

but 



320 

but all the Gifts and Places your Majefty Can bestow ; fo to 
be, if not in Name, yet in Effecl Kings of your People. 
I mean Cardinal Wolfey, vvhofe Fame has been pretended 
to be vindicated by a Domeftick of his, in the Days of the 
late Queen. And, tho' I fhall not deny his admirable 
Qualifications and Parts ; or his Juftice in many Particu- 
lars ; yet I fhall (hew, that the ills he did, were much 
more prejudicial to the King and People, than the Good 
he did was beneficial to them. 

Whatever he did, as Chancellor, (allowing his Decrees 
to have been all Equitable and Juft,) will not be fufficient to 
deftroy my Affertion ; fince that only reach' d/ome Particu- 
lars, who had Caufes depending before him ; but the many 
Exorbitances of his Adminiftration, fpread to the whole Peo- 
ple ; as will appear from thofe few Inftances which I fhall 
give, by which he put the King on the mod illegal Attempts 
to replenish that Exchequer, which his Ambition and Pridt 9 
more than any Profufion, or Expences, of the King, had 
exhausted. 

The Reafon of this Affertion will be plain, if your Ma- 
jefty will reflect on the more than Royal Retinue, which 
(tho' a Subject of the lowest and most plebeian Rife,) he 
maintain'd. For, not to wade your Majefty's important 
Hours with a long Catalogue of the Particulars, he had in 
his Family, One Earl, nine Barons, and Knights, Gentle- 
men, and inferior Officers, about One Thoufand. For the 
Maintenance of whom he was once poffefs'd of the Almo- 
nerfhipy the Bifhopricks of Tournay, Lincoln and York, and 
Durham, St. Albans in Commendam, the Bifhoprick of 
Winchester, in exchange for that of Durham, the Revenues 
of thofe of Bath, Worcester and Hereford, was Lord 
Chancellor of England, and had the difpofal of all 
Places of Truft and Profit, and fingly and alone dispatched 
all Publick Negotiations. 

But 



m 

But the maintenance of fo numerous a Dependance, was 
not perhaps the Moyety of his Expences; he had long 
entertain'd an Ambition to be Pope. And he was too wife 
to attempt any thing in the Conclave, or Court of Rome 9 by. 
means of which he cou'd have no hopes of Succefs. Mo- 
ney has always been the only Argument which has pre- 
vailM in the Papal Elections, or in the particular Interefts 
that the Princes in Obedience of that See form for them- 
felves or Favourites, The Cardinal therefore muft be at an 
expence proportionable to the vehemence of his Defires : 
Which having no Bounds ; his LargefTes, to obtain that 
End, cou'd be bounded by nothing but the Abilities of 
the King and Kingdom, the Treasure of which was wholly 
at his Command. 

This was the Reafon, that prevail'd with him to engage 
the King, his Mailer, to lend Sums of Money to the Em- 
peror, whofe Poverty was fo well known that he cou'd 
have no Profpeft of ever having them Repay'd. 'Tis true, 
the Emperor and the Court of Rome were not fair Chap- 
men, but received his Money, and, at the fame time, in- 
stead of promoting, obftru&ed all his Aims at the Tripple- 
Crown. Thefe incident Charges, join'd with the conftant 
Expences of fo numerous a Retinue, occafion'd perpetual 
and large Difburfements ; and these put him on extraor- 
dinary Ways and Means of providing a Fund for their 
Continuance. 

To this end he grants Commiffions, under the Great 
Seal of England, which oblig'd every Man, on Oath, to 
deliver the true Value and Eftimate of his Eftate, and to 
pay Four Shillings in the Pound for every Fifty Pounds 
and upwards. This was fo heavy and fevere a Tax, 
that it's being Authoriz'd by Parliament wou'd not have 
freed it from the Imputation of an Oppreffion of the 
Subjecl i But to be done by the private Authority of a 

Y , SubjeU 



322 

Subject, is what wants a Name. And that it was fo^ 
notwithstanding the Great Seal was affix'd to the Commif- 
fions, is plain, from his Majefty's dif owning the Matter, 
as fuch a Violation of the Fundamental Rights of the Peo- 
ple, and a total dijjblution of Magna Charta, that no wife 
King of England cou'd be guilty of. A juft confideration 
of this, made the King declare, That, tho' bis Necefjities 
were great, yet he Jhou'd never think them great enough to 
male him attempt the raifing Money hy any hut the Legal 
way, of the People's consent in Parliament, 

Tho' the King had made this Declaration, and the 
Cardinal found his firft illegal Projecl defeated; yet, finee 
Money was to be had, or his Defigns fall to the Ground, 
he once more trys one as little agreeable to Lawjas the 
former, tho* not fo odious and unproper. He therefore 
puts the King on defiring a Benevolence of the People 
without an Act of Parliament, And the Commifiioners, 
(who were the Cardinal's Creatures, and employ'd by him) 
exacted this Money , not as a free Gift, but as if due ly Law. 
But in this he was exactly difappointed, tho' at the E.r- 
pence of his Majter's Reputation ; for the People, pleaded, 
a Statute of Richard III. and ohftinately refused to pay it. 

out, Madam, I mull remember to whom it is that I am 
fpeaking; to one of the Wifeft and Beft of Princes, as 
being entirely free from all vicious Inclinations ; and of too 
good Judgment to be inpos'd-on, by the fairest appearances 
of Virtue, fo far as to lofe the jufxer Confideration s of 
Publick good in the fhining Qualities of any particular : 
Under you, Madam, we find that Saying true, How happy is 
the Kingdom {that is] govertid by a Philofophcr ! We feel 
the BleiTing, and every Day experience the Manna of your 
Reign. And, how indulgent foever ycur Majefty may he 
thought to the eminent Excellencies of fome, yet I have no 
manner of Fear, that they will ever be able to expel your 

Majefty's 



323 



Majesty s Affections from all your other Subjects, or make 
you ever deviate to a Particularity in their Favour, against 
the Good and univerfal Cries of your People. 

This Noble Temper in your Majefty it is that fecures me 
againft all Fears from this Freedom, which I have taken ; 
fince you will eafily fee a Vuhlick Spirit, void of all private 
Aims, mine through the whole. 1 have therefore only to add 
my ardent Wifhes for the profperous and long Reign of 
your Majesty over a People that are fenfible of the Blefflng 
which Providence has leftowed on them in their gracious 
S^ueen. 

{This memorial is re-printed from pages 99, 100,— *— ill, of a very small 
volume of political tracts, called TTie Cabala, or Mi/Steries^ of State, 
published at London in the year 17 15.] 



Y % THE 



324 

THE STATE 



OF 



A SECRETARIES PLACE, 

AND 

THE DANGERS INCIDENT TO IT. 

Written lij ROBERT CECIL, Earl of Salisbury. 

Reprinted from the Calala, pages 115, 116,-— 120. 



All Officers of State and Counfellors of Princes, have 
a prefcribed Authority, either by Patent, by Oath, or by 
Cuftom ; the Secretaries Place only excepted : but to them 
there is allowed a Liberty to Negotiate at Discretion, both 
at Home and Abroad, with Friends and with Enemies, in 
all Matters of Enquiry to gain Intelligence. 

All the Servants of Princes deal upon ftrange and cau- 
tious Authority and Warrants for it : as in Disburfements 
and Receiving of Money by Treafurers, Receivers, &c. 
Which is done by fufficient Warrant; and in Conference 
with Enemies, as Generals by Commiffions ; in executing 
of all Offices, as Officers by their Patents; and fo in 
whatever elfe: Only a Secretary hath no Warrant or 
Commiffion, in matters of his own greateft Danger, but 
muft rely upon the Word and Integrity of his Sovereign. 

For fuch is the Multiplicity of Occafions, and the va- 
riable Motions and Intentions of Foreign Princes, and their 
daily Practices in fo many parts and places, that Secreta- 
ries can never have any Commiffion fo Large and Univer- 
fal as to avTure them. So that a Secretary muft either 
conceive, or dive into, the Thoughts of a King (whic h is 
only the Prerogative of God Almighty) or elfe a King 

muft 



325 

hiuft either exercife the Painful Office of a Secretary him- 
felf (which is contrary to Majefty arid Liberty) or chufe 
fuch a Secretary that he may repofe his confidence in ; 
and the Secretary's Life mull be in Truft with the Prince : 
for he cannot deal with Princes tanquam Inimicum futurum\ 
and therefore all the Security he has is that his Sovereign 
will be Semper Idem, 

All foreign Princes hate another Prince's Secretary, as 
well as all Ambitious Afpirers and Confpirators ; becaufe 
for the mod part they either Kill thofe Monfters* in their 
Cradles, or track them to a discovery, where no other Per- 
fon could find the Print of their Feet. 

Military Perfons alfo hate them ; unlefs they ferve them 
on all occafions^ tho' never fo prejudicial to the Interefts 
of their Mafters. 

All Perfons in Offices and Places of Truft malign them> 
unlefs they wink at their Frauds and Cheating the King : 
All their fellow-Counfellors envy them, becaufe they fee 
and do moft : have freeft accefs to their Sovereign j and ori 
all Occafions that the Prince has to enquire into offences, 
to Deny, Prefer, or Punifh, none are so much employ'd, 
or bear the Burden fo much, as the Secretaries* 

Kings are advifed to obferve Three things efpecially in 
a Secretary, l. That he be created by himfelf, and be of 
his own Raifing and Preferring, 2. That he match not 
in a Family that is accounted Factious. 3. That he has 
a reafonable Capacity, and convenient Ability both of 
Friends and Eftate ; that, by the flrft, he may be able to go 
to the depth of what is committed to his Charge, being 
brought-up, as it were, in his own Condition : That, 
by the fecond, he might not be led-away with any vain or 
idle conceit, to wrong his prince, or abufe the Truft com- 
mitted to him : And by the laft> That he may be able 

to 

* That is, ambitious aspirers and conspirators. 
Y 3 



326 



to ferve his Maje'fty without wronging any Man out of a 
Covetous Principle. 

On the other hand, a Secretary had need ferve a Prince 
that is conftant to his own Orders, and fteady in his Com- 
mands; othervvife he is in a dreadful Condition : for he 
that lives by being trufted, ought to ferve faithfully ; and 
he that is content to live at Mercy, ought to be careful in. 
charging* his Mafter that he be juft, and de bond Natura. 

Whilft Matters of State are debated only between the 
Prince and his Secretary, thofe Counfels are like the mu- 
tual affections of two Lovers, Undifcovered to their Friends : 
When they come to be difputed in Council, they are like 
afking consent of Parents and adjufting Portion and Settle- 
ment : and the Agreement of the Council is like the 
Solemnization of the Marriage. 

Now, if there be a Secretary, whofe Eftate can Wit- 
nefs he has not ferved for Profit ; that he has preferred the 
Honour and Safety of his Mafter, and defpifed his own 
advantage ; and, after all this, he finds his Fidelity and 
Diligence cannot fecure him againft the Clandeftine Infinu- 
ations and Slanders of his Malicious Enemies : Tis time 
to reflgn his Place. For, as, if he had not been fit to be 
Trufted, he was unworthy of his Life, fo his keeping his 
office after fuch an Aflurance, (hews he is weary of it ; 
for the first Day of a Secretary's being fufpected, is the 
Birth-day of his Mifery ; for at the fame Moment he ie 
Tryed, Judged and Condemned. 

* Or, perhaps, chusing. 



CONSIDERATIONS 



S2T 
CONSIDERATIONS 

ON THt 
EXPEDIENCY OF PROCURING AN ACT OF PARLIAMENT FOR THE 

SETTLEMENT* 

OF THE 

PROVINCE OF QUEBEC. 



By FRANCIS MASERES, Esq. 

:'hfn lately appointed his Majesty's Attorney-General for the Province of Quebec, m 
North-America. 

London, printed in Jpril, \"(QQ. 



The difficulties that havearifen in the government of 
the province of Quebec, and which are likely It 111 to 
occur in it, notwithftanding the beft intentions of thofe 
who are intruded by His Majefty with the administra- 
tion of affairs there, are fo many and fo great that the 
Officers, whom His Majefty has been pleafed of late 
to nominate to the principal departments in that Go- 
vernment,* cannot look upon them without thegreatefi 
uneafinefs and apprehenfion, and defpair of being able 
to overcome them without the affiftance of an acl of 
Parliament to ground and juftify their proceedings. 
Two nations ar& to be kept in peace and harmony, and 

moulded 

* Lieu tenant-General Guy Carlton, (who has been since 
created a Peer of Great Britain, by the title of Lord Dorchester J 
-was appointed Lieutenant Governour of the Province of Quebec 
at this time, and William Hey, Esq. Barrister-at-Law, was ap- 
pointed Chief Justice of the Province. 

Y 4 



328 

moulded, as it were, into one, that are at prefent of 
oppofite religions, ignorant of each other's language, 
and inclined in their affections to different fyftems of 
laws. The bulk of the inhabitants are hitherto either 
French from old France, or native Canadians, that 
fpeak only the French language, being, as it is thought, 
about ninety thoufand fouls, or, as the French reprefent 
it in their Memorial, ten thoufand heads of families. 
The reft of the inhabitants are natives of Great Britain 
or Ireland, or of the Britifh dominions in North-Ame- 
rica, and are at prefent only about fix hundred fouls ; 
but, if the province is governed in fuch a manner as to 
give fatisfa&ion to the inhabitants, will probably every- 
day increafe in number by the acceflion of new fettlers 
for the fake of trade and planting, fo that in time they 
may equal, or exceed, the number of the French. The 
French are almoft uniformly Roman-Catholics ; there 
were only three Proteftant families among them at the 
time of the conqueft of the province \ and probably 
that number is not much increafed among them, as no 
endeavours have been ufed for their converfion. But, 
what is more to be lamented, is that they are violently 
bigotted tothePopifh religion, and look upon all Pro- 
teftantswith an eye of deteftation. This unhappy cir- 
cumftance has been, and is ftill likely to be, a ground 
of enmity and difunion between the old and new inha- 
bitants! The French infift, not only upon a toleration 
of their public worfhip, but on a fhare in the admini- 
stration of juftice, as jury-men and juftices of the peace 
and the like, and on a right, in common with the 
Englifh, of being appointed to all the offices of the 
government. The Englifh, on the contrary, affirm, 
that the laws of England made againft the Papifts ought 
to be in force there, and confcquently that the native 

Canadians, 



829 

Canadians, unlefs they think proper to turn Protefiants, 
ought to be excluded from all thofe offices and various 
branches of power : and in fome degree they feem to be 
fupported in this opinion by a part of the Governor's 
Commiflion ; I mean that part which enables him to 
call and constitute a general affembly of the freeholders 
and planters of the province; for it is there cxprefsly 
provided, that no perfon elected to ferve in fuch an af- 
fembly (hall (it and vote there till he has fubferibed the 
declaration againft Popery prescribed by the ftatute 2J 
Car. II. which would effectually exclude all the Cana- 
dians. 

The grounds upon which the French demand a tole- J^J?"^ 
ration of the Catholic religion, are partly the reafon- man-Ca- 
ablenefs of the thing itfelf, they being'almoft univerfally ligion. 
of that religion, and partly the ftipulation made on 
that behalf in the fourth article of the definitive treaty 
of peace, and which is expreffedin thefe words. " 1 3 is 
<c Britannic Majefty on his fide agrees to grant the li- 
"berty of the Catholic religion to the inhabitants of 
<c Canada ; he will confequently give the moft effectual 
u orders that his new Roman-Catholic fubjects may 
" profefs the worfhip of their religion, according to the 
u rites of the Romim church, as far as the laws of 
" Great Britain permit." 

Thefe laft words, c< as far as the laws of Great 
Britain permit," render the whole ftipulation in favour 
of this toleration very doubtful ; for it may reafonably 
be contended, that the laws of England do not at all 
permit the exercife of the Roman- Catholic religion. 

For in the firft place, thefe words feem to refer to fome 
degree of toleration ofthe Boman-Catholicreiigion, alrea- 
dy aclually.fubfiftingin fome partoftheBritifhdominions, 
and by virtue of the laws of Great Britain; and if fo, 

they 



330 



they convey no right to any toleration at all, becaufe 
no degree of toleration of that religion is already 
actually allowed by the laws of Great Britain in any 
part of the Britifh dominions. 

adly, Suppofing thefe words not to refer to any tole- 
ration of the Catholic religion now actually fubfifting 
by virtue of the laws of Great Britain, but to mean 
only fuch a degree of toleration as (though it does not 
actually fubfift in any of the Britifh dominions by virtue 
of the laws of Great Britain, yet) may fubfift without 
a breach of the laws of Great Britain, yet ftill there 
will be great reafon to think that the laws of Great 
Britain do not permit this toleration in any degree. 
For in the firft place, the ftatute of J Eliz. cap. i. for re- 
ftoring the fupremacy in ecclefiaftical matters to the 
Crown, exprefsly extends to all the Queen's future do- 
minions, as well as to thofe belonging to the Crown at 
the time of making the act. The words of the 16th 
feclion are as follows : " Be it enacted, &c. that no 
u foreign prince, perfon, prelate, &c. fpiritual or tem- 
" poral, mail at any time hereafter ufe, or exercife, any 
66 manner of power or jurifdiction, Spiritual or Ecclefi- 
** aftical, within this realm, or within any other your 
€( Majefty's dominions, or countries, that now be, or 
(i hereof ter shall be, but mall be clearly abolifhed out of 
" this realmy and all other your highnefs's dominions 
(S for ever." And in the next fe&ion, all this ecclefi- 
aftical jurifdiction, or fupremacy, is united and annexed 
for ever to the Crown. It is clear therefore that the 
King is, by the laws of Great Britain, fupreme head of 
the church in the province of Quebec, as well as in 
England itfelf. Now it is the very effence of Popery, 
that the Pope, and not the King, is fupreme in all fpi- 
ritual matters. Confequently this eflential artiele of 

Popery 



Popery cannot, by virtue of the ftipulation in the defini- 
tive treaty, be tolerated ; but all appeals to the Pope, 
all exercifes of ecclefiaftical authority in Quebec, by the 
Pope, or his legates, or any other perfon commiffioned 
by him, all nominations to benefices, or to the bi (hop- 
rick of the province, (which is a power the Pope has 
hitherto exercifed, at lead fo far as to approve the bifhop 
before he entered upon the functions of his office) muft 
now be illegal and void. 

But this a£t goes a great deal further ; for it requires 
all ecclefiaftical perfons whatsoever, and likewife all 
lay-perfons holding temporal offices, or employed in 
thefervice of the Crown, and likewife all perfons hold- 
ing lands of the Crown, and doing homage for them, to 
take the oath of Supremacy to the Queen, or her fuc- 
ceflbrs, under pain of lofing their benefices, or tempo- 
ral offices, &c. and this not only in the realm of Eng- 
land, but in any of the Queen's hrghnefVs dominions. 
So that by this part of the aft, all the Canadian clergy, 
and a great part of thelaiety, might be required to take 
the oath of Supremacy, which it is well known the moft 
moderate Catholics cannot take, it being contrary to the 
fundamental article of their religion ; for the difference 
between the moderate Catholics and the more furious 
and zealous Papifts, who are moftly guided by the Je- 
fuits, confifts principally in this circumftance, that 
the latter afcribe to the Pope an unlimited power in 
temporal as well as fpiritual matters, and affirm that 
he may depofe kings, and abfolve Subjects from their 
allegiance, and do other the like extravagant mifchiefs, 
whereas the former deny his temporal, and acknowledge 
only his fpiritual Supremacy. 

It is true indeed, this oath of Supremacy is taken 
awaybytheftatuteof 1 Will. cap. 8. But another fhorter 
oath of Supremacy, containing a mere denial of the 

Spiritual, 



332 



Spiritual, or Ecclefiaftical power of the Pope, or any 
other foreign Prince, and which is therefore equally 
contrary to the fentiments of all Roman-Catholics, is 
appointed to be taken in its (lead, and by the fame 
perfons, and under the fame penalties, as before. 

It appears therefore, from the ftatute of 1 Eliz* cap. 
i. alone, without considering any other of the laws 
&gainfl Popery, that the exercife of the Popifh religion 
cannot be tolerated in the province of Quebec, confift- 
ently with the laws of England ; and confequently that 
it cannot be tolerated there at all by virtue of the flipu- 
lation of the definitive treaty above-mentioned, becaufe 
that flipulation has an exprefs reference to the laws of 
England. 

Further by the next act in the ftatute-book, or flat- 
1 Eliz. cap. ii. for the uniformity of common-prayer 
and fervice, it is enacted, " That every minifter of a 
< e parifh-church, &c. within this realm of England, 
<f Wales, and marches of the fame, or other the Queen 9 s 
€l dominions, (hall be bound to ufe the book of com- 
u mon-prayer, and (hall ufe no other fervice, under 
<f pain of incurring certain heavy penalties.*' 

By this act, the mafs is prohibited in all parifh- 
churches in all her Majefty's dominions. 

This act does not indeed fay exprefsly, as the former 
does, that it (hall extend to all her Majefty's dominions 
that hereafter (hall be, as well as thofe that at prefent 
are, belonging to the Crown of England. But there 
is reafon to believe it meant fo ; or at leaft there is room 
for doubt. And, if it does mean fo, the mafs is prohi- 
bited by it in the province of Quebec. 

Upon thefe reafons we may conclude, that the exer- 
cife of the Catholic religion cannot, confidently with 
the laws of Great Britain, be tolerated in the province 
of Quebec. 

Yet 



333 

Yet that it mould be tolerated is furely very reafona* 
ble, and to be wifhed by all lovers of Peace and Juftice- - 
and Liberty of confcience. 

By what authority then fhall it be tolerated } this is 
the only queftion that remains. Shall the King alone 
undertake to tolerate it? will it be advifeable that he 
fhould exercife, though for fo good an end, a power of 
difpenfing with the laws ? will it not give room to a 
thoufand cenfures and odious reflections and compari- 
sons ? The authority of Parliament feems to be a much 
fafer foundation to eftablifh this meafure upon, in a 
manner which neither the new Englifh inhabitants of 
the province can conteft, nor the French Catholics 
Jufpect to be inadequate. 

The next great difficulty that occurs, is the fettle- 
ment of the laws, by which the province of Quebec of the 
is for the future to be governed. The law upon this 
fubjecl: feems to be this ; lft, That the laws of the con- 
quered continue in force till the will of the conqueror 
is declared to the contrary; this follows from the ne- 
ceflity of the cafe, fince otherwife the conquered pro- 
vinces would be governed by no laws at all. 2dly, 
That after the declaration of the will of the conqueror 
the conquered are to be governed by fuch laws as the 
conqueror (hall think fit to impofe, whether thofe are 
the old laws by which they have been governed before, 
or the laws by which the conquerors are governed them^ 
felves, or partly one, and partly the other, or a new 
fet of laws different from both. 3dly, That by the 
conqueror is to be underftood the conquering nation, 
that is, in the prefent cafe, the Britifh nation ; that 
confequently by the will of the conqueror is to be un- 
derftood the will of the British nation, which in all 
matters relating to legiflation is exprefled by the King 

and 



u 



and Parliament, as hi all matters relating to the ^execii* 
tive power it is expreiTed by the king alone; that 
therefore the Parliament only have a power to make 
laws for the province of Quebec, or to introduce any 
part of the laws of Great Britain there, or to delegate 
fuch a power of making or introducing laws to any 
other hands, notwith Handing it may happen that in, 
fact fuch a power may inadvertently have been delega„ 
ted to the governor and council of the province by a. 
private Inftruction of the King alone. For, if the con- 
trary doctrine were true, that the King alone had the 
whole legiilative power in the province of Quebec, it 
would follow, that not only all the conquered Cana- 
dians, but all the new Englifli fettlers there, would be^ 
come slaves, or fubject to an abfolute and arbitrary 
government, the moment they fet their foot there. 
The King might introduce the feverefi: laws, and mod 
cruel punifhments, the inquifition, the rack, and the 
wheel, and might make all his fubjects there, both old 
and new, tenants at will of their lands and other pro- 
perty, and tax them in any degree whenfoever he 
thought fit. He might keep a ftanding army there, 
without confeni of Parliament, and raife money to pay 
them by his own authority; and with fuch an army, a 
prince of James lid's, difpofition, might opprefs the li- 
berties of the other adjoining colonies, or even of Great 
Britain itfelf. Thefe are dreadful confequences, but 
follow clearly from fuch a doctrine; for which rcafon 
the doctrine itfelf ouoht not to be maintained. The 

o 

other opinion, that the conquered people, when once 
ceded to the Crown of Great Britain, are thereby ad- 
mitted to be Britiib fubjects, and immediately intitled 
to participate of the liberties of other Britiffr fubjects^ 
and are therefore to be governed according to the rules 

©f 



335 



the Limited Monarchy of Great Britain, by which the 
executive power is veiled folely in the King, but the 
power of making laws and railing taxes in the King 
and Parliament, is a much fafer and more reasonable 
opinion. 

It is therefore to be wifhed, that an act of Parliament 
might be obtained that at once declared what laws 
fhould take place in the province of Quebec, whether 
the laws of the conquered, or the laws of Great Britain, 
pr fome of the laws of the conquered, and some of the 
laws of Great Britain ; or whether any other laws mould 
be introduced there, more peculiarly fitted to the cir-- 
cumftances of the province; and, if any, then what 
laws fhould be fo introduced : Or, if this detail be 
thought too troublefome for the Parliament to enter 
upon, and their informations concerning the ftate of 
the province (hould be deemed to be as yet too imper- 
fect to enable them to go through fuch a bufinefs with 
propriety, then it is to be wifhed that an act of Parlia- 
ment may be obtained, by which fuch a legi dative 
power of making laws and ordinances for the good 
government of the province might be delegated to the 
povernor and Council, as has been already exercifed by 
them by virtue of an Inflruction from the King alone, 
J3y fuch a delegated parliamentary authority, they may 
enquire into the ftate of the Canadian laws and cuftoms 
already in force there, and may revife them and reduce 
them into writing, and enact fuch of them as (hall be 
found beneficial to the province^ and fit to be continued, 
and may introduce fuch parts of the laws of England 
as they (hall think to be for the advantage of the 
province ; and likewife, as occafion offers, make fuch 
other new laws and regulations as (hall be neceffary for 
the good government of it : And in fo doing they wil) 

tiave 



336 



have a due regard to the heads of advice luggefted by 
Mr. Attorney Yorke, and to fuch other intimations 
and inftru&ions as the government (hall think proper to 
communicate to them. And, left this legiflative power 
ifoould be abufed 9 or injudicioufly executed, by the Gover- 
nour and Council, there might be a claufe in the a& of 
Parliament directing them to tranfmit thefe feveralLaws 
and Ordinances to the King and Privy Council in Eng- 
land, to be by his Majefty in Council allowed or difal* 
lowed, as his Majefty (hall fee caufe. Only they mould 
be in force till dtfalluwed, and, if not difallowed within 
a certain time, (as, for inftance^ two years,) they mould 
then be in force for ever, nnlefs repealed by a& of Par- 
liament. Laws and Ordinances founded on fuch a par- 
liamentary authority will eafily find obedience from the 
people, which it is to be feared no others will ; and the 
Judges of the province will carry them into execution 
with ten times as much fpirit and confidence as if they 
were doubtful of their legal validity. 

Suppofe a criminal in Canada to be guilty of an 
offence that is capital by the laws of England, but is 
not fo by the laws of Canada that have hitherto been 
received, (a fuppofition that is no way difficult, as the 
criminal law of England abounds with capital offences) 
in what manner {hall fuch a man be punifhed, unlefs 
there is a parliamentary declaration determining the 
punifhment that fhall attend his crime; Could any 
lefTer authority warrant the infliction of death for fuch 
a crime ? Or would any Judge chufe, though he mould 
be fure of never being called to account for it, to pafs 
fuch a fentenee without'this higheft authority ? But, L 
the punifhments of crimes be fettled by authority of 
Parliament, whether immediately by the Parliament it- 
felf, or mediately by ordinances made by the Governor 

and 



or* 



33 

and Council of the province, by virtue of a legiilative 
authority communicated to them by act of Parliament^ 
the judges will be under no other difficulty whatpunifh- 
ments to inflict upon the feveral criminals that come 
before them, than they are in Great Britain itfelf. 

Some perfons are of opinion, that the laws of Great 
Britain do at once take place in a conquered province, 
without any authoritative introduction of them, either 
by the King, or the Parliament. But this opinion feems 
deftitute of foundation, and is fufficiently refuted by the 
advice of the learned Mr. Yorke, His Majefty's Attor- 
ney-General, who has advifed that the Canadians mould 
bepermitted to retain their ownLaws, relatingtolnherit- 
ances and the Alienation of their real eftates, which, 
would be impoffible without an act of Parliament for 
that p'urpofe, if the whole fyftem of the Laws of England 
did ipso J ado become the Law of the province upon its 
being conquered, or ceded to the Crown. Indeed, the 
whole fyftem of the Laws of England, taken in the 
grofs, and without a felecticn, would be by no means 
a bleffing to the Canadians. The game-laws* the 
poor-laws, the fictions and fubtleties in various forts of 
actions and conveyances, the niceties arifing from the 
doctrine of ufes, and the tedious and operofe inftru- 
ments founded on them, would really be a great misfor- 
tune to them ; and, from their novelty and ftrangenefs, 
would be thought to be a much greater. This Doctrine 
therefore of the inftant validity of the whole mafs of 
the Laws of England throughout the conquered province 
cannot be true. And if the whole fyftem of thofe laws 
is not valid there, then certainly no part of them can 
be fo. For if they are, then who mall diftinguifti which 
of them are valid there, and which are not? 

It may therefore be concluded, as at firft, that none 
2 of 



338 

of the laws of England are valid in the conquered pro- 
vince ipso facto by virtue of the conqueft, or ceffiony 
without a pofiiive introduction there by a fufficient au- 
thority : and this fufficient authority feems, for the 
reafons already mentioned, to be only the Parliament of 
Great Britain. 
Settlement The next great difficulty that calls loudly for the in*- 
Rcvenue. terpofitiotr of Parliament, is the low fta-te of the Revenue 
of the province of Quebeck. Under the French govern- 
ment this Revenue amountedto about thirteenthoufand 
pounds per annum, but is now funk to lefs than three 
thoufand. The caufe of this is the change in the courfe 
of trade ; by which means it falls-out, that thofe taxes 
which formerly produced the principal part of the reve- 
nue, do now, though ft ill in force,, produce nothing at alL 
The principal of thofe taxes was- a duty upon French 
wines, which were imported there from old France in 
great quantities. Thisiingle duty produced 8000I. a year ; 
now it produces nothing, becaufe no wines are allowed 
to be imported there from old France. Nor would it 
be replaced by an increafe of the confumption of Spa- 
nifh or Portuguefe wines, fuppofing the tax might be 
eonftrued to extend to thofe wines ; for the Canadians 
do not like them, and will not drink them. From a 
like caivfe/ another duty which formerly made a conft- 
derable part of the publiek revenue, which was a duty 
upon French brandies imported from old France, and 
French rums imported from the French Welt-India 
i<flands, now produces nothing at all. From thefe 
eaufes the Revenue is funk fo low that it is infufficiefit 
to defray the ex-pence of the civil government, though 
the eftablifliment of it is fo very moderate. It is there- 
fore become neceflary, either for the treafury of Eng- 
land toLffue a fufficient annual fum to make good the 

falaries* 



539 



falaries of the feveral Officers of the Government, or that 
fome new tax mould be impofed upon the inhabitants* 
in aid of thofe which by reafon of thefe accidents have 
failed, fufficieni for all the purpofes of the Government. 
And if thislatter method ihould beadopted, itisprefumed 
that the authority of Parliament will be the proper pow- 
er to have recourfe to, that there may be no colour or 
pretence for contending the legality of the taxes fo im- 
pofed. This power alfo the Parliament may exercife, 
either immediately itfelf by impofing a tax upon the 
province of Quebeck this very feffion. before the Parlia- 
ment rifes, or it may delegate to the Governour and 
Council a power to impofe fuch taxes as they mall find 
neceflary for the fupport of the Government, fubje<5t, 
as above, to the difallowance of the King and Privy 
Council, in order to prevent abufcs, and with proper 
claufesof Reftri&ion and Appropriation of the money fo 
raifed, in order to prevenc a mifapplication of it, either 
by the Officers of the province, or at home. 

If the Parliament fhould think proper itfelf to lay a 
tax upon the province, Information has been received 
from perfons well acquainted with the ftate and trade 
of the province, that Britifh fpirits would be the com- 
modity that could beft bear a duty, and would produce 
the beft revenue ; that there are annually imported into 
the province about 250,000 gallons of thefe fpirits, and 
that they might bear a duty of three-pence a gallon, 
without hurting the trade, but not more ; and this 
would produce about 3000^. a year. 

The malicious and defperate enemies of an upright 
and popular Adminiftration, may perhaps traduce fuch 
a meafure as inconfiftent with their late indulgent con- 
duel with refpe6l to the other American colonies in the 
late repeal of the ftamp-a6t. But the difference of the 
z 2 cafes 



340 

cafes is too fkikirrs; to make such a calumny hi tte 
jeaft degree formidable. The other American colonies 
have internal legiftatures of their own, who have been 
permitted, ever fince their firft eftablifliment^ to be the 
afTefTors of all their internal taxes ; and, as they had not 
abufed this privilege with which they had been fo long 
indulged,— *aud further, as their exercifing this privilege 
feemedtobe no way prejudicial to the mother-country,— 
it feemed to have been a harth and ungracious meafure 
in the Parliament, by the advice of the late mini dry, to 
revive and exert a dormant and inherent right of taxing 
them; which, however, the whole Parliament, excepting 
a very few members of both houfes, have highly de- 
clared themfelves to be poiTeffed-of. But the Cana- 
dians have no fuch internal legiflature, no fuch ufage of 
taxing themfelves by reprefentatives of their own chuf- 
ing. Unlefs, therefore, they have the lingular privilege 
of not being liable to be taxed at all, thev muft be liable 
to be taxed either by the King alone, or by the King 
and Parliament; and the milder of thefe two opinions 
is, that they are taxable by the King and Parliament. 
Thofe therefore who fliould promote the taxing them by 
authority of Parliament, would a£l like the trueft friends 
to civil liberty, and with the fame fpirit of mildnefs 
and moderation that conducted them in the repeal oi 
the ftamp-a&. 

If it fhould be faid, that the province of Quebeck 
ought to have an AfTembly in the fame manner as the 
other American colonies, and that the taxes ought to 
be impofed by the confent of fuch an AfTembly, it will 
be fufficicnt for the prefent purpofe, and to fupport the 
meafure, here furrgefted, of taxing them by authority of 
Parliament, to anfwer> that as yet no fuch AfTembly 
has been coniiituted: and till an aflembly is erecled, 

whether 



341 

Whether that time be fhort or long, the fafeft and mild- 
eft method of impofing taxes is to, do it by authority of 
Parliament. 

As to the erecling an Affembly in that province, it is ^ ^m5a 
a meafure which probably will not for fome years to 
come be found expedient. If an affembly were now to 
be conftituted, and the directions in the Governour's 
Commiffion, above alluded to, were to be obferved, by 
which none of the members elected there are to be per- 
mitted to fit and vote in the Affembly till they have fub- 
fcribed the declaration againft Popery, it would amount 
to an exclu.fi on of all the Canadians, that is, of the 
bulk of the fettled inhabitants of the province. An Af- 
fembly fo conftituted, .might pretend to be a reprefenta- 
tive of the people there; but in truth it would be a re- 
prefentative of only the 600 new Englifh fettlers, and 
an inurnment in their hands of domineering over the 
90,000 French. Can fuch an affembly be thought juft 
or expedient, or likely to produce harmony and friend- 
fhip between the two nations? Surely it mud have a 
contrary effect. 

'On the other hand, it might be dangerous in thefe 
early days of their fubmiflion, to admit the Canadians 
themfelves to fo great a degree of power. Bigotted, as 
they are, to the Popifh religion, unacquainted with, 
and hitherto prejudiced againft, the laws and cuftomsof 
England, they would be very unlikely for fome years 
to come, to promote fuch meafures as fhould gradually 
introduce the Proteftant religion, the ufe of the Englifh 
language, or the fpirit of the Britifh laws. It is more 
probable they would check all fuch endeavours, and 
quarrel with the Governour and Council, or with the 
;Engli(h members of the Affembly, for promoting them. 
Add to this, thai they are almoft univeifally ignorant 

z 3 Sf. 



342 

of the Englifh language, fo as to be abfojutely incapa- 
ble of debating in it, and confecmently mult, if fuck 
an AfTembly were erected, carry-on the bufinefsof it in, 
the French language; which would tend to perpetuate 
that language, and with it their prejudices and affec- 
tions to their former matters, and poftpone to a very 
diftant time, perhaps for ever, that coalition of the two 
nations, or the melting-down the French nation into 
the Englifh in point of language, affections, religion* 
and laws, which is fo much to be wifhed-for, and 
which otherwife a generation or two may perhaps efTeci, 
if proper meafures are taken for that purpofe. And 
furlher, it may be obferved, that the Canadians them- 
felves do not defire an AfTembly, but are contented to 
be protected in the enjoyment of their religion, liber- 
ties, and properties, under the adminiflration of his 
Majefty's Governour and Council. If, to give a proper 
liability to this mode of government, it is carried -on by 
authority of Parliament, and is properly fuperintended, 
(as no doubt it will be,) by thewifdem of his Majefty's 
Privy-Council, they will think themfelves extremely 
happy under it. The perfons who molt defire the im- 
mediate conftitution of an AfTembly, are fome of the 
fix hundred Englifn adventurers, who probably are am- 
bitious of difp'aying their parts and eloquence in the 
characters of leading AfTembly-men. 

But, if an AfTembly is to be confiitiited, even this too 
had better be done by a6t of Parliament than by the 
King's fmgle authority, as it is no lefs than fevering 
from the general body of his Majefty's dominions a 
particular part of them, with refpect to the purpofes of 
making laws and impofing taxes. Could the King, if 
be thought proper, and a particular County of England 
was to defire it of him, fever that County from the 

refl 



343 

•f-eR of England, and no longer fummon any of ks 
members to Parliament, but, inftead thereof, eonftitute 
a little Parliament in that County itfelf,that mould make 
laws and lay taxes for the inhabitants of that fingle 
County? It is prefumed that he could not : and the 
erecling an Aflembly in a conquered province is an a& 
of much the fame nature. It is true indeed, that fome 
of the American Charters and Aifemblies owe their rife 
to this authority: but this was in the reigns of the 
Stuarts, who were fond of extending their Preroga- 
tive; and, on account of the inconliderabienefs of the 
colonies at that time, thefe things were then unnoticed^ 
fo that they 4o not prove the ftrict legality of the prac- 
tice. Since that time thefe Charters have been put in 
.practice by the Colonies, and acquiefced-in by the 
mother-country, and in fome meafure recognized in 
Parliament ; and this ufage, acquiescence, and recog- 
nition, are in truth their beft fupport. 

But, if an Aflembly is tobeconftituted, in which the 
Catholicks or Canadians are to be admitted, (as in juft- 
jce and reafon they ought to be, if any aflembly at all 
\s to be erected) the authority of Parliament feems to 
be ftill more neceffary to give validity to fuch a meafure. 
For the reafons that have been jufi now mentioned, 
it feems evident that the meafure of erecting an AfTem- 
bly in the province of Quebeck is fomewhat premature. 
How foon it will become expedient and proper, Expe- 
rience only can (hew. But in the mean time, however 
fhort that time may be, it feems neceffary to have re- 
courfe to the authority of Parliament for fettling the 
government of the province, and removing the difficul- 
ties that obftruft that fettlement in the three great arti- 
cles of Religion, Law, and Revenue. It is therefore 
jhe humble requeii of all the gentlemen who hay-Q lately 

z 4 beeij 



344- 

appointed to the principal Offices in the government of 
Quebeck, to his Majefty's Minifters of State, that they 
would ufe their influence and endeavours to procure 
fuch an a$ of Parliament as they (hall, upon the whole 
matter, think to be neceflaiy, to remove the difficulties 
that have been ftated, and to enable the faid gentlemen 
to adminifter the government of that province in their 
feveral departments, with fecurity to themfelves, and 
advantage to the province. 
Signed, 
Perhaps an acl; of Parliament to the following pur* 
port might anfwer \bt intended purpofes. 



A fketch of an acl: of Parliament for tolerating the Rq- 
man-Catholick religion in the provinceof Quebeck, 
and for encouraging and introducing the Proteftant 
religion into the faid province, and for fettling the 
Laws, and augmenting the publick Revenue of the 
fame, 

CHAP. I. 

Concerning the Toleration of the Roman- C atholicl Reli* 
gion. 

Whereas it has been humbly reprefented to the 
King's Molt Excellent Majefty, by His loyal and faith-: 
ful fubjedls, the French inhabitants of the province of 
Quebeck, thai they are, for the moft part, members of 
the church of Rome, and are, from motives of confer- 
ence, moil earneftly defirous of a permi(fion to continue 
in the fame church, and to worfhip the Supreme Being 
according to the rites and ceremonies thereby prefcribed, 
and have alledged that they conceive themfelves to have 
fame reafonable claim to fuch permiflion and indulg- 
ence. 



845 

ence, not only from the innate goodnefs and clemency 
of his Majefty's difpofition, which inclines him at all 
times to (hew himfelf a tender father of all his people, 
and the generofity, which always actuates the Parlia- 
ment of Great Britain, to co-operate with his Majefty 
in all fuch his gracious purpofes, but from a ftipulatiou 
made in this behalf in the fourth article of the laft de- 
finitive treaty of peace concluded at Paris, in the year 
of our Lord one thoufand feven hundred and fixty-three 
which is contained in thefe words ; " tfis Britannic 
" Majefty, on his fide, agrees to grant the liberty of the 
" Catholick religion to the inhabitants of Canada. He 
<l will consequently give the moil effectual orders that 
" his new Roman-Catholick fubjecls may profefs the 
< c worfliip of their religion, according to the rites of the 
u ftomifli church, as far as the laws of Great Britain 
<{ permit." And whereas ex »in doubts have arifen, 
and may arife, whether the I ; of Great Britain will 
permit the exercife of the Ron. -Catholick religion in 
any degree, even in the remoter! dominions of the 
Crown of Great Britain: and whereas His Majefty and 
the Biitifh Parliament judge it to be reafonable in the 
prefent cafe to grant a toleration of the exercife of xhe 
faid Roman-Catholick religion throughout the faid pro- 
vince ofQuebeck, both on account of the almoft univerr 
fal prevalence of that religion among the French inha- 
bitants of that province, and the ftipulation in that be- 
half made in the definitive treaty of Paris, as is above 
mentioned ; yet not without fuch reftriclions as may 
prevent the ill confequences that might otherwifefo)lo\y 
from fuch indulgence : IT IS THEREFORE ENACT- 
ED, by his faid Moll Gracious Majefty, by and with 
the advice and confent of the Lords Spiritual and Tem- 
poral., and the Commons, in Parliament affembled, that J^^ 

it 



346 

»an Ca- it ihall and may be lawful for the Curates and Vicars y 
shk>. CkW ° r " anu * ot ^ er pnefts belonging to the feveral pariffies in the 
Province of Ouebeck, to celebrate the mafs, and to ad- 
mini fter the facraments of the church of Rome, and to 
perform all the other functions of the prieftly office, 
according to the rites and ceremonies of that church j 
and that it (hall alfo be lawful for any of the inhabitants 
of the faid province to attend the mafs, or other Roman- 
Catholick office* of religion, without any hindrance or 
moleftation ; any law, ftatute, or cuftom, of Englan4 
to the contrary thereof in any wife notwithstanding. 
Seminaries And, to the end that the faid Roman-Catholick inha- 
Catho"-? 11 * bitantsof the faidProvmce of Quebeckmay be under no 
piiests. neceffity, or temptation, to keep-up a correfpondence 
with Old France, in order to be f applied with Roman- 
Catholick priefts to officiate in their feveral parim- 
churches, upon the feveral vacancies which may hap* 
pen by the deaths of the prefent Incumbents, IT IS 
HEREBY FURTHER. ENACTED, that it (hall and 
maybe lawful for the Governour,orCommander in chief, 
and Council of the faid Province, to tolerate and licence 
by an ordinance made and publimed for that purpofe, 
fuch and fo many of the Seminaries already eftablifred 
in the faid province for the education of perfons intended 
for holy orders according to the church of Rome, as 
they (hall think fufficient to fupply a proper number of 
the faidPopifli pnefts for the ferviceof the Roman-Ca- 
tholick inhabitants of the faid Province. And the (aid 
Governour, or Commander in chief, and Council of the 
faid Province (hall have power by new Ordinances to 
tolerate more, or fewer, of thefc Seminaries, as occafion 



may require. 
Roman. And, to the end that the perfons that dedicate them- 
felves to the fervice of the church,, according to the rites 

of 



< atholick 
Bisfcop. 



347 

qfthe Romifli religion, maybe enabled to receive Epif- 
copal Ordination, according to theforms of that church 
without going to Old France, or any other Roman-Ca- 
tholick country of Europe, for that purpofe, IT IS 
HEREBY FURTHER ENACTED, that it (hall be 
lawful for His Majefty to appoint from time to time, 
by letters-patent under his great feal of Great Britain, 
or to impowertheGovernour, orCommander in chief,of 
the faid Province., to appoint, by letters-patent under 
the feal of theProvince, a Bifhop, or Superintendant, of 
the Roman-Catholick clergy of the faid province, with 
fuch reafonable falary, not exceeding; the fum of four 
hundred pounds fterling a year, as His Majefiv 5 by the 
advice of his Privy Council, mall direel, to have and 
to hold the faid office of bifhop, or fuperintendant of the 
Roman-Catholick clergy, and the revenue thereto an- 
nexed, during his Majedy's plcafure. 

Alfo it isherebv provided, thatthe Goyernour, orCom- Govemour 
mander in chief, of the faid Province of Quebeck,(liall sent to** 
prefent all the Roman-Calholickpriefls to the feveral fu th l 
parifh-churches, whenever they become vacant; and the 
Bifhop, or Superintendant, (hall, upon fuch prefentation, 
inftitute them to the fame. And it (hall be lawful for 
the faid Governour, or Commander in chief, to prefent 
to the faid churches, and for the faid bifhop to inftitute 
thereto, any of the Jefuits, or other monks, now belono-- 
ingto any of the monafteries, or religious houfes, in the 
faid province of Quebec. But no other Jefuits, or monks 
of any other religious order whatfoever, befides thofe 
that are now in the faid province, and no fecular 
priefts whatfoever, but fuch as were, or mall hereafter 
be, educated in the Canadian Seminaries, (hall be capa- 
ble of being prefented, or inftituted, to any of the faid 
churches, 



348 



Regulation 

of the 
Seminaries. 



Carrying 
the Host 
in proces- 
sion. 



Carriages 
pf Priests. 



r&stablish- 
-ment of 
church- 
dues. 



Alio it is hereby further provided, that the Governour 
and Council mall have power to regulate, as often as they 
think proper, by Ordinances made for that purpofe, the 
f'everal Seminaries which they mall think fit to tolerate 
and licenfe, as aforefaid.. 

Alfo it is further provided, that it mall be lawful for 
the Governour and Council to prohibit, or reftrain, in any 
manner they think proper, the carrying-about the Hoft: 
in proceilion through the ftreets and publick highways, 
by an Ordinance made and publilhed for that purpofe, 
and to confine the exercife of the Romim religion to 
churches and private houfes, in order to avoid giving 
offence and fcandal to the Englifh inhabitants and 
others of the Proteftant religion. 

Alfo it is further enaexed, by the authority aforefaid^ 
that it mall and may be lawful for the aforefaid Roman- 
Catholick bifhop, or fuperintendant, and likewife for 
all the Roman-Catholick priefts, fo as aforefaid tolerated 
in the faid province, to enter into the holy flate of ma- 
trimony, if they mail fo think fit, without incurring 
ajay damage, cenfure, or difability, eccleiiaftical or 
temporal, whatsoever; any canon, rule, law, or cuf- 
tc*m of the Romim church, to the contrary thereof iq 
any wife notwithstanding. And the children anting 
from fuch -marriages mall be, and be deemed, legiti- 
mate to all intents and purpofes. 

Ami, to the "end that the Roman-Catholick clergy 
that are hereby tolerated may have a reafonable main- 
tenance fuitable to their office and character, IT IS 
FURTHER ENACTED, that the fame legal profits 
and dues, whether they 'be glebe-lands or tithes, or of 
any other kind whatfoever, that belonged or were pay- 
able .to the Roman-Catholick priefts of the feveral pa* 
rifhes in the time of the French government, and might 

thea 



349 

then have been recovered by procefs of law, in any 
Court either fpiritual or temporal, and were not mere 
voluntary donations oroblations, (hall (till belong to the 
faid Roman-Catholick priefts, and be paid to them by the 
Roman -Catholickinhabitantsof their refpecliveparifhes, 
and the payment of them by fuch Roman-Catholicks 
fhall be enforced by procefs of law in the Court of the 
Chief Juftice of the province, by fome fhort and conve- 
nient f 11 i t to be appointed for that purpofe by the Gover- 
nourand Council of the province, by an Ordinance made 
and publifhed by them for that purpofe. And, in 
order to prevent unneceffary difputes concerning thefe 
profits and dues, the faid Chief Juftice of the province 
{hall enquire by the oaths of twelve, or more, Canadian 
houfe-keepersof good reputation in every parifh through- 
out the province, what thofe legal profits and payments 
were in the time of the French government, and {hall 
transmit a written account of the fame to the Governour 
and Council of the province, who mall thereupon caufe 
them to be printed. And two copies of the faid printed 
lifts of the faid profits and dues fhall be preferved, the 
one among the records of the Council, the other among 
the records of the Court of the Chief Juftice, and (hall 
be deemed authentick evidence, on all future occafions 
of the dues of the clergy in the feveral parifhes of 
the said province. 

And further, whereas it can be in no degree neceffary Collegiate 
to the free exercife of the Roman-Catholick religion in ^d'reiTgi' 
the faid province of Quebeck, that the Cathedral or Col- ous houses< 
legiate-churches of deans and chapters, or the religious 
focieties of monks and nuns, fhould be permitted to 
continue, and, as there is reafon to apprehend that the 
continuance of them might prove detrimental and bur- 
thenfome to the faid province, IT IS THEREFORE 

HEREBY 



S?>0 



HEREBY FURTHER ENACTED, that all fuch 
members of any Cathedral or Collegiate churches, or 
religious focieties, as think proper to depart from them 
and refign their rights to any profits from them, arid 
ceafe to be member's of them, whether they be Deans, 
t)r Prebendaries, or Canons, or other members of any 
Cathedra] or Collegiate church, or monks, or nuns, or 
ether members of any religious fociety or monastery, 
ihall be at full liberty to depart therefrom, whenfoever 
thev think fit : any euftom, law, or flatute of fuch 
Cathedral or Collegiate church, or religious fociety, or 
any canon, rule, law, or cuftom of theRomifli religion, 
to the contrary hereof in anywife notwithstanding. 

Alfo it mall be lawful for any of the faid Deans, or 
Prebendaries, or Canons, or other members, of any 
Cathedral or Collegiate church in the faid province of 
Quebeck, and for any Abbot or Prior, Abbefs or Priorefs, 
monk or nun, or any other member of any monaftery 
or religious house in the faid province, to enter into the 
holy ftate of matrimony, if they (hall think fit fo to do ; 
any law, canon, or cuftom of the Romifh religion to 
the contrary thereof in any wife notwithftanding. And 
the faid marriages (hall be valid, and the iilue of them 
legitimate, to all intents and purpofes whatfoever. 

All fuch of the faid perfons as enter into the holy 
fiate of matrimony fliall be deemed to have thereby de- 
parted voluntarily from the Cathedral, or Collegiate 
church, monaftcrv, or religious houfe, to which they 
belonged, and to have renounced all their connection 
therewith, and all their right to any profit arifmgfrom 
them. 

Alfo it is hereby provided, that no new members be 
admitted hereafter into any of the faid Cathedral or Col- 
legiate churches or roonafteries, or religious houfes ; 

but 



.351 

but that thofe who are there already, and deflre to. con- 
tinue there, be permitted fo to do during their lives ; 
and that after the death, or marriage, or voluntary de- 
parture, of all the members of all the faid Cathedrals or 
Collegiate churches, monasteries, or religious focietres, 
their houfes, lands, revenues, and goods of every kind, 
moveable and immoveable, (hall be taken into the 
King's hands, and make part of the publick revenue of 
the Province; and that in the mean time the ftipends 
of fuch members of the faid Cathedral or Collegiate, 
churches, monafteries, or religious houfes, as either die, 
ormarry, or voluntarydepart from the faid churches or 
religious houfes, fhall not accrue to the furvivingor re- 
maining: members of the faid focieties, but (hall be im- 
mediately taken into the King's hands, and make apart 
of the said publick revenue of the Province. 

Alfo, to the end that the Roman-Catholick inhabit- Liberty to 
ants of the faid province may, by the free exercife of JJojy a 
their reafon, and the light of the holy gofpel, be con- Scn P tures * 
verted from the errors and fuperftitions of the church of 
Rome, to the profeflkm of the true Proteftant religion; 
IT IS HEREBY FURTHER EXACTED, that kfliall 
be lawful for all the inhabitants of the faid province, 
Roman-Catholicks- as well as Proleftants, to read the 
books of the Old and New Teftament in the French or 
Englifh language, or in any other language whatfoever, 
any canon, rule, or cuflom of theRomifh religion, to 
the contrary hereof in anywife notwithstanding. And 
no priell (hall inflict any ecclefiaftical cenfure, or pe- 
nance, upon any Roman-Catholick inhabitant of thefaid 
province for fo doing, upon pain of being im'prifoned 
for a year, upon an indictment and conviction thereof 
before the Chief Juftice of the province. 

And, 



3a2 



Provision 
of Protest- 
ant mini- 
sters for 
future 
converts 
from the 
Romish 
xeiigion. 



And, whereas fhere is great reafoii io hope, that, tjf 
the pious examples and exhortations of perfons thai 
profefs the Chriftian religion in greater purity, and by 
the free perufal of the holy fcriptures, many of the 
French inhabitants of the faid province that now profefs 
the Roman-Catholick religion, maybe converted froni 
the errors and fuperftitions thereof to the belief of the 
true Proteftant religion ; upon which mod deiirable 
event it will be reafonable that they mould have places 
ofpublick vrorftiip torefort-to, and minifters of the Gof- 
pel to perform divine fervice to them, and that fuch 
minifters fhonld have a proper reward for their pious 
labours: IT IS HEREBY FURTHER ENACTED 
that, if, upon any vacancy of a parifh-church by the 
death of a Roman Catholick Incumbent, a fourth part, 
or more, of the inhabitants that are houfekeepers in 
the faid parim, or, in cafe there are more than four- 
icore houfekeepers in the faid parifh, if twenty, or more, 
of the laid houfekeepers, ilia.ll prefent a petition to the 
Governour, or Commander in chief, of the faid province, 
fetting-forth that thev are Proteftants, and that they are 
defirous to have a Proteftant minifter among them, to 
perform divine fervice, and exereife all the functions of 
the mmiftrv among them, and praying the Governour to 
appoint them fuch a minifter, it (hall in fuch cafe be 
lawful for the faid Governour, or Commander in 'chief, of 
the faid province, to nominate and appoint to fuch va- 
cant church, a Protectant minifter of the Gofpel by 
letters-patent under the publick feal of the province, to 
hold the faid office of a Proteftant minifter of the Gofpel 
for the faid parifh during his natural life, or till he (hall 
accept forre other benefice, which (hall inftantly make his 
appointment to the former benefice Void. And the faid 

Governour 



333 

Governour,orCommamler inchief, mall at thefamctime 
prefent, as abovementioned, a Roman-Catholick prieft 
t_o the fame church for the benefit of the Cathoiick inha- 
bitants of the faid parifh. And all the tithes and other 
dues that are to be paid by the Proteftant inhabitants 
of fach parifli (nail be paid by them to the faid Proteft- 
ant minifter, and flial! be recovered by him, by procefs 
of law in the fame manner as they might have been re- 
covered beforeby the Roman-Catholick prieft of the (aid 
parim. And all the tithes and dues that are to be paid 
by the Roman-Catholick inhabitants of the faid narifti, 
{hall be paid to the Roman Cathoiick prieft of the faid 
province. And the glebe-lands, and other profits of 
the church that do not arife from payments of any kind 
made by the inhabitants of the faid parifh, mall be di- 
vided between the Roman-Caibolick prieft and the Pro- 
teftant minifter of the faid parifli, in proportion to the 
numbers of the houfekeepers that profefs the Popifh 
and Proteftant religions, at the time of filling-up the 
vacancy of the church in the manner hereby prefcribed„ 
And this divifion of the profits of the church between 
the Popifh prieft andtheProteftant miniftermail bemade 
by virtue of an Order in writing from the faid Governour, 
or Commander in chief, made for that purpofe under 
his hand. And this Order of the Governour, or Com- 
mander in chief, (hall be final and (hall be deemed to 
iiave ascertained the proportion of this diviflon beyond 
all litigation. And upon fuch appointment of a Proteft- 
ant minifter to any vacant church, though a Romifli 
prieft be prefentcd thereto at the fame time, all relicks^ 
images, pictures, and crucifixes, and other fuperftitious 
ornaments, {hall be removed from the faid church, in 
confequence of an Order to be made by the Governour, 
or Commander in chief, for that purpofe, in writing 



354 



and under bis hand. But they may be kept by the 
Roman-Catholick pried: of the faid parifh, in fome con- 
venient place to be provided by him and the Roman - 
Catholick inhabitants thereof forthat purpofe *, and may 
be brought into, and placed in, the faid church, during 
the time of divine fervice, as often as occafion (hall re- 
quire, but (hall at the end of fuch fervice be again re- 
moved thereout. And the faid Governour, or Com- 
mander in chief, may caufehis faid order to be inforced 
in fuch a manner as to him mail appear moil effectual 
and expedient. 

Alfo it is hereby further enacted that, if, upon anv 
vacancy of a parifh-churcb in the faid province bv the 



death of the Popifh pried thereof, it fhall appear to the 
Governour\*fatisfaction,thatthree-fourth parts,or more, 
of the inhabitants that are houfekeepers in the faid pa- 
rifh, areProteftants, he (hall not prefent any Koman- 
Catholick pried: to the faid church, but mall only appoint 
a Proteftant minifter thereto. And the faid Protectant 
ir.inifter fhall receive and enjoy all the profits of the 
faidchurch. And in this cafe theGovernour, or Com- 
mander in chief, of the laid province, fhall take order 
that all the relicks, images, pictures, and crucifixes, 
and other fupernjtious ornaments of fuch church, fhai' 
be removed from the faid church, to be" never more 
fct-up therein, and fhall he either deftroyed or otherwife 
difpbted-of, as the faid Governour mall think fit. 

,, . , Alfo it is hereby fun her enacted, that all the Roman- 

Oath of * . . t . . 

allegiance ' Catholick prieds now in thepofleffipii of any churches 

to be taken m . 

by the Ro- in the ih\C province, mail take the following oath of 
n Vfc*" allegiance to his MajtfVy, appointed by the ftatute of 
] Geo. I. cap. 13. to wit, " 1, A.E. do fincerely pro- 
" mife ar.dfwear, that 1 will be faithful and bear true 
iC allegiance to his Majtfty King George. So help me 

" God." 



th 



353 



God." And this oath they (hall take, either before the 
Governour and Council, or the Chief Juftice of the pro- 
vince, or fuch other perfon or perfons as the Governour 
and Council {hall, by an ordinance to be made and 
publifhed for that purpofe, im power to adminifter the 
fame unto them. And upon refufal to take the faid 
oath, they (hall beinftantly deprived of their refpe&ive 
benefices in the church, and fhall be incapable ever after 
of being prefented to any benefices in the faid province. 
And the Governour (hall, as foon as conveniently may 
be, prefent another prieit to the benefice thereby be- 
come vacant. 

And this oath the Governour, or Commander in 
chief, is hereby required to adminifter, or caufe to be 
adminiftered, to all the faid priefts with ail convenient 
expedition. 

Alfo the aforefaid Koman-Catholick bifliop, or fuper- 
intendant of the clergy, mail take the faid oath of alle- 
giance before he can exercife any of the functions of the 
faid office. And if he fhall refufe fo to do, being re- 
quired thereto by the Governour, he fhall thereby lofe 
his faid office of bifhop, or fuperintendant, and (hall 
be incapable ever after of holding that office or any 
other benefice or employment in the church during his 
life. 

Alfo all the Roman-Catholick priefts that fhall here- 
after be prefented to any of the churches in the faid 
province, fhall, before fuch prefentation, take the faid 
oath of allegiance. Otherwife their prefentation and 
inftitution to any of the faid churches fhall be void. 

Alfo it fhall be lawful for the Governour, or Com- 
mander in chief, of the faid province, to require all 
JDeansand Prebendaries, or Canons, or other members 
of any Cathedral or Collegiate church, and likewife all 

Q* K % fttr^erior/i 



356 

fuperiors of any feminaries, and all Jefuits or at he?" 

monks, or other members of any religious houfe, to 

take the faid oath of Allegiance. And if they refufe 

fa to do, their places, offices, and profits in fuch 

churches or focieties, (half immediately be void and 

ceafe, and they (hall be expelled from fuch focieties. 

They may Alfo it (hall be lawful for the faid Governour, or 

required to Commander in Chief, to require the faid Bifhop, or 

abjure the Superiniendant, and all the Roman-Catholick priefts 

temporal * 7 ' 

power of of the feveral churches in the faid Province, both thofe 
'that are now in poffeffiori of the faid churches, and 
thofe that (hall hereafter be prefented to them, and 
li'kewife all the deans and prebendaries, or canons, or 
other members of any cathedral or collegiate church, 
and all the Jefuits and other monks, and other mem- 
bers of religious houfes in the faid Province, to take 
alfo the following oath, being the firft part of another 
oath appointed to be taken by the aforefaid ftatute of 
i Geo. I. cap, 13. to wit, " I, A. B. do fvvear, that I 
44 do from my heart abhor, dctefr, and abjure, as im- 
il pious and heretical, that damnable doclrme and po- 
" fnion, that princes excommunicated or deprived by 
cc the Pope, or any authority of the fee of Rome, may 
<i be depofed or murdered by their fubjecls, or any 
" other whatsoever. So help me God." And thofe 
who, being required to take this oath, (hall refufe fo 
to do, fbal-1 incur the fame penalties as have been above 
appointed for refirfing to take the aforefaid oath of Alle- 
giance. 
No appeals Alfo it is hereby further enacted, that no appeal 
to Rome, fhall be 'made in any matter whatfoever, fpirhual or 
temporal, arifing in the faid Province, to the Pope or 
Bifhop of Rome, or to any other foreign authority 
vhatfoever \ and that no jurifdiclion, fpiritual or tern-* 

poral, 



357 

poral, mall be exercifed by the faid Pope, or by any 
of his legates, or by any other perfons commiffioned by 
him in the faid Province of Quebeek, under any pre- 
tence whatfoever. And no bulls, or difpenfations, or 
inftruments of any kind, founded on the authority of 
the faid Bifhop of Rome, or on any other foreign au- 
thority whatfoever, fliall be brought into the faid Pro- 
vince. And whofoever fhall bring into the faid Province 
any fuch bulls, difpenfations, or other inftruments, 
founded on fuch foreign authority, and whoever fliall 
exercife in the faid Province any legantine or other au- 
thority derived from the laid Biihop of Rome, fliall, 
upon indictment and conviction thereof before the 
Chief Juftice of the Province, be punifhed by confisca- 
tion of all his goods and chattels, and imprifonment at 
the difcretion of the Court, and, if he be a fecular 
prieft, by lofs of all fuch benefices as he may have in 
the church, and an incapacity of holding any ever after. Chu [ cnes 
And, to the end that the officers of the civil govern- signed for 
nientof the faid Province, and the officers and foldiers diateuseof 
of the army that are quartered there, and the Englifli t]l 
merchants andfettlers, and other Proteftant inhabitants 
thereof, may be immediately accommodated with con- 
venient places of publick worfhip, IT IS HEREBY 
ENACTED, that it fhall be lawful for the Governour, 
or Commander in Chief, of the faid Province, to caufe 
fuch and fo many of the churches alreadv built in the 
faid Province, as he mall think proper, to" be prepared 
for the fervice of God according to the fimplicity of the 
Proteftant religion, by removing out of them all relicks, 
images, pictures, and crucifixes, and other fuperfti- 
tious ornaments, and to order divine fervice to be per- 
formed therein at fuch hours, and by fuch Proteftant 
minifters, as he fhall think proper- to appoint. And 

2A3 the 



ants. 



£he Rbmifhprieft, and other Roman-Gatholick inhabit- 
ants of fuch Parifhes, may at other hours of the day 
pot interfering with thofe appointed for the Proteflant 
fervice, perform and attend divine fervice there accord- 
ing to the rites of the Romifh religion, and may at thofe 
times, if they think proper, replace in the faid church- 
es the faid images and other church-ornaments, to con- 
tinue there during the time of fuch divine fervice, but 
no longer; and, after fuch fervice is endtd, they fhaU 
remove them to fome convenient place to be provided 
by them for their reception and prefervation. 
Govemour And whereas it is probable, that many other regula- 
cii may tlons may be found neceflary by perfons refiding in the 
thcr rem- *" aIC * ^ >rovmc ! e °f Quebeck, and well acquainted with 
lations con- the ftate thereof, for encouraging and introducing the 

cerning Re- .... '"-...' 

ligion. Proteftant religion in the faid Province; and others may 
become neceflary hereafter as occafions and circum- 
flancesshal) vary : In order therefore that all fuch regula- 
tions may bemadefrom time to time with due attention 
andexpedition, IT IS HEBEBYFURTHERENACT- 
ED, that it fhall be lawful for His Majefty-s Gover- 
nour, or Commander in Chief, of the faid Province of 
Quebeck, by and with the confent of the Council of 
the faid Province, or a majority thereof, to make fuch 
laws and ordinances for the toleration of the Roman-Ca- 
tholick, and for the fettlement and encouragement of the 
Proteftant, religion, as to them fhall feem mod fitted for 
Subjfctto thofe purpofes. And the Ordinances fo made fhall be 
Jowance'of tranfmitted to His Majefty with all convenient expedi- 
fo Council ^ on » t0 ^ e ty -^ s ^ a M -Majefty confidered and examined 
in his Privy-Council, and to be allowed or difallowed 
as hisMajefiy,by the advice of his faid Council, (hall re* 
solve. Ami, if fuch Ordinances are allowed by His 
^faiefty, they fhall be vajid Lawsuntil they are repealed 



3o9 



by fomc fubfequent aft of Parliament. And if they 
are not difallowed by His Majefty in Council within 
the fpace of three years, thev {hall likewife be valid 
Jaws until they are repealed by fome fubfequent aft of 
Parliament. And further, they fhall be binding from 
the time of their being made and publimed in the Pro- 
vince, and mall not become void, in cafe of a difallow- 
ance, till the arrival of fuch difallowance and the pub- 
lication of it by the Governour. 



CHAP. II. 



Concerning tht Settlement of the Laws in the said Pre* 
vince of Quebeck. 

And whereas it is abfolutely neceflary for the wel- 
fare and good government of the faid Province of Que. 
beck, that a fyftem of Laws mould be eftablifhed therein 
upon a folid and inconteftable foundation ; And whereas 
it may not be convenient to impofe upon the inhabit- ' 
ants of the faid Province the whole body of the Laws 
of England at once, and thereby intirely over turn all 
theLaws and Cuftoms by which the French inhabitants 
of the faid province have hitherto been governed, and 
to which they are much devoted, nor on the other 
hand to leave all the faid old Laws and Cuftoms of the 
faid Province in their full force without any alteration 
whatfoever ; IT IS THEREFORE ENACTED, by 
the King's Moft Excellent Majefty, by and with the 
advice and confent of the Lords fpiritual and temporal, 
and the Commons in Parliament afTembled, that it 
mall be lawful for the Governour, or Commander in Governour 
Chief, of the faid Province, by and with the advice ^fif* 

2 a 4 and 



350 

have power and confent ftf the Council of thefaid Province, or the 

tn rank ... ..... . r , 

Laws foi the majority thereof, to inquire into revile, and examine 
vmcc. the Laws and cufloms that have heretofore prevailed in 
the faid Province, and to ena6t by Ordinances made 
and publifhed for that purpofe, fuch of the faid laws 
and cuftoms as they (hall judge to be fit to be conti- 
nued, and to make Inch alterations and reformations 
thereof as thev (hill think reasonable, and to intrcch ce 
fuch parts of the Laws of England, and to make fuch 
new Liws and regulations, as they (hall judge to be 
conducive to the welfare of the inhabitants of thefaid 
Province, and the honour of the crown of Great 
Britain. 
Subject to And to the end that this great, but necefftrv, rower, 
lowancecf thus delegated by the Parliament oi Grea» Britain to the 

the King m f^ Governour and Council of the faid Province of 
Council. 

Quebeck, may not become detrimental to thefaid Pro- 
vince by any abufc, or injudicious exercifc, thereof by 
the faid Governour and Council, it is hereby further 
provided, that {he Ordinances made by them by virtue 
thereof, be tranfmitted, as foon as they are made, to 
KisMcjpfty in Council, in order to be there examined 
and fullv confideied and finally allowed or difallowed, 
as iiis Majefty, with the advice of his faid Council, 
{hall think fit. But they {hall be binding on all the 
inhabitants of the faid Province fiom the tme ihey are 
pafied, until FHs Majefty's difallowaaec arrives in the 
Province, and is made publitk by the Governour : and 
if they are not difallowcd within three years, they fliall 
no longer be fubpef. to fuch clifallowance, but fhall 
continue to be valid Laws until ihty are repealed or 
altered by fome fublequcnt a 61 of Parliament 



861 



CHAP. III. 

(toncernzng the Vublick Rwenue of the Province of 
Qucbeck. 

And whereas the publick Revenue of the Province 
of Qucbeck did in the Time of the French government 
amount tJ about thirteen thqufand pounds fterling a 
year, but now is reduced to about three thqufand pounds 
fterling a year by various caufes, one of which is that 
juice the conqueft of the faid Province by the Britiih 
arms no French wines have been imported into the did 
Province from Old France, which in the time of the 
French government ufed to be imported thither in fuch 
quantities, that the duty impofed and levied en the 
faid wines, ufed, one year with another, to amount to 
no Lis than eight thoufand pounds a year ; And, 
whereas certain doubts and difficulties have anfen, and 
may arife, whether certain other profit? of the Crown 
and duties on various kinds of goods which were enjoy- 
ed by the Crown of France, and lev'ed and paid in the 
time of the F.ench government, fhouki ftdl of right 
continue and belong to the Crcvvu of Great Britain, 
and he Jeyied and paid as heretofore : And, whereas, if 
all the laid profits and duties were fully enjuyed and 
paid as heretofore, yet ftill the publick Revenue of the 
fa'd Provmce would fall very fhort of what it was in the 
time of the French government : In order therefore to 
remove the faiddouhts and difficulties, and likewife to 
xeiloie the publick revenue of the faid Province to fuch 
a condition as may he fufficient for defraying in a pro- 
per manner the expenee of the Civil Government there- 
of, IT IS DECLARED AND ENACTLD by the 
Kind's Med Excellent Majefly a by and with the advice 

and 



362 

and con fen t of the Lords fpiritual and temporal, and 
the Commons in Parliament affembled, that all fuch 
The profits of any kind whatever as were enjoyed by the 

Taxesshali Crown of France at the time of the fionqueft of thefaid 
tinue.° n ~ Province by the Britifh arms, fliall now belong, and of 
right ought to belong, to, and be enjoyed by, the Crown 
of Great Britain, and that all fuch duties upon any 
commodity of any kind exported from, or imported in- 
to, the faid Province, as were levied and paid to the 
officers of the Crown of France at the time of the faid 
conqueft, (hall now be levied and paid, and ought of 
right to be levied and paid, to the officers of the Crown 
And 3 new of Great Britain; and further, that a duty of three- 
laid of 3 pence for every gallon be paid upon all Britifh fpirits of 
Sofia-Ton evcr y kind imported into the faid Province either from 

British spi- Great Britain, or Ireland, or the Britiili Weft-India 
riis. 

iflands, or any other of the Britifh dominions whatfo- 

ever, unlefs it fhali be found and adjudged by the Go- 
vernourand Council of the faid Province, upon a care- 
ful inquiry and perufal of the edicts or ordinances of 
the French King whereby the feveral duties on goods 
imported into the faid Province were impofed, that 
Britifh fpirits imported into the faid Province were lia- 
ble to pay a dutv under the French government ; and 
in that cafe the inhabitants of the faid Province fliall 
now pay the fame duty as they were liable to pay unde r 
the French government immediately before the break- 
ing out of the laft war between the two Crowns of 
Great Britain and France, provided that the said duty 
docs not exceed three-pence for every gallon; and, if it 
does exceed three-pence for every gallon, they fhall pay 
only three-pence a gallon and no more. And in the mean 
time, and till it is declared by the Governour and 
Council what the duty on this commodity was under 



363 

the -French government at the faid time of the lali 
breach between the two nations, the faid duty of three- 
pence for every gallon on all Britifh fpirits imported in- 
to the (aid Province (hall be paid. 

And it is herebv further enacled and provided, that PuMjdt 

• A • Money to 

it mall be lawful for the Governour, or Commander in be issued 
Chief, of the faid Province, by and with the advice ^ Jover- 

and confent of his Council, and according to Ordinances " our and 

G _ Council. 

to be by them made and publiftied from time to time 
for that purpofe, to iffue warrants under his hand to the 
Receiver-general of the publick revenue of the faid Pro- 
vince to pay fuch funis, as by fuch Ordinances mall be 
appointed^ to the perfons appointed therein to receive 
the fame, for purpofes relating to the government and 
publick welfare of the Province; fuch as building 
or repairing barracks for foldiers, building or repair- 
ing churches for the ufe of the Protectant inhabit- 
ants of the faid Province, affigning falaries, or other 
rewards, to fuch Proteftantminifters as labour zealous-r 
]y and fuccefsfully in the converfion of the Roman- Ca- 
tholick inhabitants of the faid Province to theProteilant 
religion, and erecting fchools for teaching the Englifh 
language, building or repairing fortifications or other 
ufeful publick buildings, widening or repairing publick 
roads and highways, and the like ufeful purpofes re- 
lating to the faid Province of Quebeck. But it fhall in 
no cafe be lawful for tlie faid Governour, or Comman- 
der in Chief, to iffue warrants for the payment of any 
part of the publick Revenue of the faid Province, nor 
for the Receiver-general, or any other officer, of the 
Revenue in the faid Province to pay, by yirtue of fuch 
warrant, or of any other order whatfoever, any part of 
the faid publick Revenue of the Province, to any perfon 
not redding i u the faid Province, nor for any purpofe 

whatsoever 



S6i 

whatfoeverbut fuch as (hall be exprefTed in an Ordinance 
of the Governour and Council made and publifhed for 
that purpofe, excepting only the falaries and fees of 
the Governour and other civil officers of the govern- 
ment of the faid Province actually redding in the faid 
Province. 
Ordinances Alfo it is further enacted, that all Ordinances of every 

to be sign- m _ J 

cdbytne kind, Whether for iflfuihg money, making or introduc- 
whoenact * n g laws, or any other purpjfes whatfoever, mall be 
t-qenu figned by the Governour, or Commander in Chief, and 
the majority of the members of the Council prefent at 
the time of making them. And thefe original draughts 
of the ordinances fo figned mall be kept among the 
records of the Council. 



FINIS, 



The foregoing Tract and Sketch of an a& of Parfia-. 
ment were drawn -up by me at the deiire of General 
Carleton, (the Lieutenant- Governour,) and Mr. Hev, 
the Chief Juftice, of the Province of Quebeck ; and a 
few copies of it were printed for the infpecTion of the 
Marquis of Rockingham, and Mr. Dowdefwell, (the 
Chancellor of the Exchequer,) and General Conway, 
(the Secretary of State,) and Mr. Charles Yorke, (the 
Attorney-General,) and Mr. De Grey, (the Sollicitor- 
Gcneral,) and others of his Majefty's fervants, who 
were likely to take a part in procuring for them an act 
of Parliament to be the ground of their proceedings in 
the Settlement of (he Government of that Province, if 
fuch a meafure had been thought advifeable. But no 
copies of it were publifhed, or fold. Nor had either 

General 



365 



General Carleton, or Mr. Hey, carefully read and ex- 
amined every claufe in the foregoing (ketch of an Act 
of Parliament for the foregoing purpofe, and given a 
deliberate aiTent to it ; but they thought that, fuch as 
it was, it might be fufficient to point-out to his Ma- 
jefty's Minifters the feveral important fubjecls which 
they wifhed to have determined, by the authority of 
Parliament, before they entered upon the difcharge of 
their feveral offices in the Province ; and the Minifters 
might alter and modify the propofed fkctch of an Act 
of Parliament in the manner they thought proper, 
before they brought it into Parliament. But Mr. 
Yorke, the Attorney-General, was not inclined to bring 
the fubjecl: into Parliament ; and the other fervants 
of the Crown adopted his opinion, and accordingly no 
bill of the kind here defcrihed was brought into Par- 
liament. The reafons for their refufal to employ the 
Authority of Parliament in this important and difficult 
hufinefs, I do not know : but I conjecture that it 
might be, partly, from the fear of engaging in violent 
debates, that might arife from the fubjecl, on the ex- 
tent of the Power of the Crown over conquered and 
ceded territories, and the efTecl: of the mere conqueft 
and ceffion of them as to the continuance, or difcon- 
tinuance, of the old Laws that had prevailed in them 
before the conqueft, and the right of introducing into 
ihetn either all, or some, of the laws of England ; and, 
if only fome of them, then determining which fhould 
be fo introduced j and which fhould not, — and as to what 
degree of indulgence ought to be ffiown to the Ronian- 
Cathoiicks in the faid Province, and whether the 
Popiffi religion shonld be only tolerated there, by per- 
mitting the Roman-Catholicks of the Province to 
, attend Mafi and all the Sacraments and Ceremonies of 

the 



the Church of Rame > or to enjoy and practice the 
ivorflnp prefcribed by that Religion, (which is all that 
is granted to them by the Capitulation of the Province 
with Sir JefTery Amherft, in September, 176O; and 
by the Treaty of Peace between France and England, 
concluded at Paris, in February, 1763,) or whether the 
laid Popiin religion (hould be not only tolerated in the 
faid Province, but ejtahlijbed there, by giving the 
Romifh Priefts that officiate in the Province a |legat 
right to demand their tithes, and other antient dues, 
by Law, and to sue for them in the Courts of Juftice; 
which has fince been enacted by the Quebeck-act of 
the year 1774, though it had been afked by the French 
General, the Marquis de Vaudreuil, in the Capitula- 
tion of September, 17GO, but refufed by the wife and 
cautious Englifh General, Sir Jtffery Amherft > — and 
whether it would be expedient to permit a Popifh 
French Bimop to go into the Province, though the 
Province had done without one for fix years, or, ever 
fince the Surrender of it to General Amherft, in 1760 ; 
the former French Bimop having died a little before 
that event ; (all which iubjects might have afforded- 
matter for long and warm debates in Parliament;) 
and, partly, from an opinion, that they themfelves 
were not likely to continue long in the great Offices 
they then held : whicU opinion was but too well 
grounded, as they were removed from them about 
three months after, in the month of July, 1766. 
They might, alio, pel haps, think it prudent to 
obtain more accurate informations concerning the 
ftate of the Province, in various important points; 
fuch as the number of Englifh fettle PS there; the 
number of the French or Canadians, and their inclina- 
tions and ^ a lilies ; the number of the Prieft?, Monks, 

anci 



36' 



and Nuns; the number of the parifhes and the values or 
the tithes; the fize and values of the feveral Seigniories, 
and the annual profits of them ; and many other fuch in- 
teresting particulars; before they drew-up a plan to be 
prefented to Parliament for fettling their Laws and 
Government. But the two former reafons feem fuff> 
eient to account for their unwillingnefs at that time to 
bring the fubjeft before the Parliament. 

Whoever reads the foregoing fketch of an Act of 
Parliament with attention, cannot fail to obferve that 
the perfon who drew it up was defirous of introducing 
by gentle means the Protectant religion amongft the 
French, or Canadian, inhabitants of the Province : 
and he may, in consequence, be fomewhat furprized 
that it mould contain a claufe for permitting a Roman- 
Catholick Bifhop to be fent into the Province, and to 
exercife his Epifcopal functions there ; which fecms 
more likely to prevent, than to encourage, the con- 
version of the Roman-Catholicks from Popery to 
the Protectant Religion. To remove this furprize, I 
muft inform my readers that I found that a refolution 
had been already taken by his MajeuVs Minifters of 
that time to permit a certain Roman-Catholick Prieft, 
who had long refided in the Province of Quebeck, 
(though he was not a native of it, but of the Province 
of Britany in Old France,) to .come from Quebeck to 
England, in the winter of the foregoing year, 1765 ; 
and to go-over to the North of France, in the month of 
January, or February, 1766, in order to be coafecrated by 
some Bifhops in France, as Bilhop of Quebeck ; which 
ceremony of Confecration was (as I was told,) per- 
formed at the City of Jmiens in Picardy. And it 
was agreed amongft the King's Minifters of that time, 
ifjat he fliould be permitted to return to Quebeck in 



3G^ 



Ihefpring of the i&tfit year, 1766, to exercife his Eptf- 
copal functions in the Province, as Bifhop of Quebeck. 
His name was Olivier Briand, or Oliver Briand ; and 
he was a well-sized, comely, man, of about 5() years 
of age, of eafy and agreeable manners, and faid to be a 
man of fober and regular life, and unimpeached morals. 
And he accordingly went to Quebeck in the faid 
fpring of the year 1766, and lived there many years 
in the exercife of his office of B.fhop of Quebeck ; but, 
as I am informed, has been dead now feveral years, 
and has been fucceeded by another Popifh Bifhop. 
Now, as this meafure of permitting Mr. Oliver Briand to 
go to Quebeck, in the character and ftation of a Bifhop, 
and to exercife his Epifcopal functions there, was 
already agreed -to by his Majefty's Minifters, I thought 
it better to have it done openly by the Supreme An* 
thority of Parliament, than privatelv and almoft clan- 
deftinely, by the mere connivance of the Miniflers of 
State, in oppofition to the above- mentioned, important, 
and fundamental, Statute of Queen Elizabeth, which 
prohibits all exercife of the Pope's authority, or of 
any authority derived from the Pope, (as that of a 
Popiftl Bifhop is exprefsly,) not only in the kingdom 
of England iifeif, and the dominions then belonging 
to th^ Crown, but in all the dominions that mould 
belong to the Crown in any future times. And this 
mud be my excufe for inferring in the foregoing (ketch 
of an Aft of Parliament the Claufe for permitting a 
Popifh Bifhop to exercife his Epifcopal functions in 
the Province of Quebeck. For, as for the meafure 
itfclf, " of permitting a Popifh Bifhop to refide there/' 
I never could approve of it, nor, if I had been one of 
his Majefty's Miniflers, whofe confent had been necef- 
iary to it's adoption, would I ever have confented to it. 

I have 



369 



I have juft now faid, that this permiffion to Mr, 
Briand, to refide in the Province of Quebeck, as 
Bifhop of theDiocefe, was given only by the connivance 
of his Majefty's Mini Iters of ftate of that time, becaufe 
J never could find that there was any patent, or warrant, 
under his Majefty's Signature, or any of his Seals, that 
gave him the title of Bijhop of Queheck, or, authorised 
him to ordain Priefts, or execute any one of his Epif- 
copal functions, but only an inftruclion either to the 
Governour or the Receiver General of the Revenue, 
(I forget which), in which he is called Super-intendant 
of the Clergy, with an order, (if I remember right,) 
to pay him the moderate fum of 200I. a year, for his 
fupport. And, perhaps, the unwillingness of his 
Majefty's Minifters to have this meafure ie of permit- 
ting a Popifh Bifhop to refide in the Province," pub« 
lickly difcuffed, might be an additional reafon to the 
two already mentioned, for their not chufing at that 
time to bring the fettlement of the Laws and Govern- 
ment of the Province under the consideration of Par- 
liament. 

I was told at the time, by Mr. Fowler Walker, (a 
Barrifter at Law, who pra&ifed with fuccefs and repu- 
tation in the Court of Chancery, and, who was well 
acquainted* with the then ftate of the Province of Que* 

beck,) 

* This Gentleman had been employed, by the agents of 
several of the English and Scotch merchants that were settled 
in the Province of Quebeck, in drawing-up and conducting 
their complaints to the King in his Privy-Council, against the 
late General James Murray, (then Captain-General and Go- 
vernour in Chief of ths Province of Quebeck,) for several acts 
done by him in his first office of Military Governour of the 
Province, as Commander in Chief of the Troops that were 

2 B quartered 



370 

I^ck,) that this pet miflion, thus granted by connivance, 
to Mr. Oliver Briand, to return to Quebeck, in the 
character of Bifhop of the Province, was obtained 
from his Majefty's Minifters of State at that time, and 
particularly from the Marquis of Rockingham, (who 
was confidered as the principal Minifter,) by the in- 
fluence of the late celebrated Mr. Edmund Burke, who 
was at that time his Lordfhip's private Secretary, and 
who had then acquired, and ever after retained, a very 
great degree of his confidence. Arid I am much in- 
clined to believe this to have been the cafe. For, other* 
wife, it feems fomewhat furprifing that, that refpecH- 
abie Nobleman, who, had been placed at the head of 
the Whig Party, and had been eftrneftly folicited and 
preffed, by the then Duke of Newcaftle, (who thought 
himfelf too old to return again into that active and 
important ftation,) to accept the Office of Firft Com- 
miffioner of the Treafury, almoft againft his will, and 
who, therefore, might be fuppofed to entertain the 
fentiments that had always heretofore been profeffed 
by that party, and consequently to have confidered 
Popery and Slavery as the two grand objects of fear 
and abhorrence to all true Engliih Patriots, againft 

quartered in it, during the years 1761, 1762, and 1763, and of 
some few acts done by him afterwards in his second office of 
Captain-General and Governour in Chief of the Province, in 
the years 1764 and 1765, which they alledged to be illegal and 
injurious to them; and by his conversations with these agents 
and with the merchants of London who were the correspondents 
of the said complainants, concerning the grounds, and proofs, 
and circumstances, of the Acts compfained-of, he had acquired 
a more intimate knowledge of the state of the Province, and all 
that was done and doing in it at that time, than any other 
person that I then conversed- with, F. M. 

the 



371 



the return of which, into the Laws and Government 
of the Nation, it was their duty to provide by every 
poffible precaution ; — '• I fay, it feems very fur- 
prifingj and almoft unaccountable, that the great 
Leader of the Whig Party, mould have coufented to a 
meafure fo different from the former meafures of that 
Party as this permiffion of a Popifh BiOiop to exercife 
his Epifcopal functions, in the now Englim Province 
of Quebeck, in direcl oppc iition to the above-mentioned 
Statute of the firft year of Queen Elizabeth; But the 
influence of Mr. Burke over the Political conduct of 
this worthy Nobleman is faid to have been almoll un- 
bounded. 

And, here, perhaps, it will be afked,- How came 
Mr. Burke to give fuch advice, and intereft himfelf 
fo much in fupport of Popery ? was he not himfelf a 
Proteftant, and had he not always been educated in 
the Proteftant Religion ? or was there any truth in a 
report that was frequently mentioned in converfation, 
and even publifhed in News -papers, concerning him, 
namely* that he had been educated in a College of 
Jefuits, at Saint Omer's, in Flanders ; and afterwards, 
when come to Man's eftate, had quitted the Church of 
Rome, and adopted the Proteftant religion, the better 
to advance his fortune in the world? — In anfwer to 
thefe queftions, I muft declare that I believe he was 
educated in the Proteftant religion, and always conti- 
nued in it, and that the report of his having beer* 
educated in a College of Jefuits, at Saint Omer's, in 
Flanders, was entirely groundlefs. And of this I am 
the more allured from having had in my pofleffion for 
a year, or more, about three years ago, a fet of Letters 
of Mr. Burke, in his own hand-writing, written for the 
moft part, in the year 1748, when he was only twenty 

b £ tears 



72 



years of age, and when he was still a itudent in Trinity 
College, in Dublin ; which he could not have been, 
unlefs he had been a Protectant. The greater part of 
thefe Letters were written to a young friend of nearly his 
own age, of the name of Shackle Ion, who was the fon of a 
refpe&able Proteftant School-mafter to whom Mr. Burke 
had beena fcholar before he was removed to theUniverfity 
of Dublin, The letters are written in a ftyle of cor- 
dial friendfhip and affection for his correfpondent, and 
relate moftly to claffical learning and fine writing, with- 
out any mention of the Rcman-Catholick religion ; and 
they fhew that Mr. Burke at that time was c .mbitious 
of making a figure in the world as an elegant writer of 
Moral Effays, or Periodical Papers, fuch as the Spec- 
tator and the Guardian, after the example of Mr. Ad* 
difon and Sir Richard Steel. And, indeed, it appears* 
that he and one, or two, of his young friends at Dublin 
College, did actually fet-up a periodical paper of that 
kind in Dublin, but which was not continued for more 
than a few months. Thefe letters were lent me by the 
reverend Dr. William Hales, D. D., rector of Killesan- 
dra, in the bifhoprick of Meath, in Ireland, and were 
afterwards returned, according to his direction. They 
contain nothing very curious, or interefting, that 
might make it of importance to publim them ; but 
they do honour to Mr. Burke's memory, as they fhew 
him to have been a friendly, open-hearted, well-dif- 
pofed young man, with an ardent love of elegant learn- 
ing, and a laudable denre of diftinguishing himfelf in 
the cultivation of it : and they prove, beyond a doubt, 
the falfehood of the story of his having been educated 
at the Jefuit's College of St. Omer's. But it is, ne- 
verthelefs, certain, that Mr. Burke, in the fubsequent 
part of his life, became (though not perhaps a papift,) a 

great 



3?3 



great Philo-papist (if I may be allowed to ufe that ex- 
prefiion,) or favourer and prote&orof Papifts, and a great 
enemy to all the Laws both in Great-Britain and Ireland 
that had been made from time to time to prevent them 
from renewing their repeated attempts to deftroy the 
Government in both countries, to which the prin- 
ciples of their religion continually excited them : for 
that was the only ground upon which any of thofe 
reftraining and difabling Acts of Parliament had been 
paffed. And Sir Richard Mufgrave, in his faithful 
Hiftory of the feveral rebellions in Ireland, informs us, 
in page 35, that, the firft publick proof of this favour- 
able difpofition of Mr. Burke towards Popery, was 
given by him in the year 1762, or the fecond year of 
the reign of his prefent Majefty, when Mr. Burke 
was 34 years of age, and had been married for fome 
years to an excellent and amiable young Lady, who 
had been educated in the Roman- Catholick Religion. 
Sir Richard fpeaks with fo much candour of Mr, 
Burke, and with fo much refpect for his uncommon 
talents and attainments in Political knowledge and 
wifdom, that I (hall here infert all he fays upon 
the fubjecl:, and even the whole Section of his work 
in which he fpeaks of him, which, is intitled, "Origin 
of the White Boys." 



h 3 «« ORIGIN 



"ORIGIN 



OF 



THE WHITE BOYS." 

An Extract from Sir Richard Musg rave's 
Memoirs of the Different Rebellions in Ireland, 
pages 32, 33, 34, 46. 

" In the year 1759, and under the adminiflration of 
the Duke of Bedford, an alarming fpirit of infurgency 
appeared in the South of Ireland, which manifefted it- 
felf by the numerous and frequent rifings of the lower 
clafs of Koman-Catholicks, drefTed in white uniforms, 
whence they were denominated white-boys ; but they 
were encouraged, and often headed, by perfons of their 
own persuasion of some confederation. They were 
armed with guns, fwords, and piftols, of which they 
plundered the proteftants, and they marched through 
the country, in military array, preceded by themufickof 
bag-pipes, or the founding of horns. In their nocturnal 
perambulations, they enlisted, or preffed into their 
fervice, every perfon of their own religion, who was 
capable of ferving them, and bound them by oaths of 
fecrecy, of fidelity, and obedience to their officers ; and 
thofe officers were bound by oaths of allegiance to the 
French King, and Prince Charles, the Pretender to the 
Crown of England; which appeared by the confeffion 
and the information of several of the infurgents, fome 
of whom were convicted of high treafon, and various 

other 



37b 

other crimes. The pretext they made ufe of for riling 
and afTemblingwas, to redrefs the following grievances : 
The illegal enclosure of commons, the extortion of 
tythe-pro&ors, and the exorbitant fees enabled by their 
own clergy, though it appeared that they were deeply 
concerned in encouraging and fomenting them, in the 
commiffion of outrages. 

" They committed dreadful barbarities *6n fuch per* 
Tons as hefitated to obey their mandates, or refufed to 
join in their confederacy; they cut-out their tongues, 
amputated their nofes or ears ; they made them ride 
many miles in the night on horfeback, naked and 
bare-backed ; they buried them naked, in graves lined 
with furze, up to their chins ; they plundered and 
often burned houfes ; they houghed and maimed cat- 
tle ; they fei^ed arms, and horfes^ which they rode 
about the country, and levied money, at times even 
in the day. I fhall refer the reader to Appendix, No. L 
for their defigns and practices,* They refembled the 
modern defenders in every refpect, except in the title 
which they affimied ; and their object was exactly the 
fame, that of fubverting the constitution, and Separ- 
ating Ireland from England, with the affiftance of 
France. 

" Thefe mifcreants became fo formidable in many 
parts of the Provinces of Leinfter and Manlier, that 
many laws, which I mall explain in the fequel, were 
enacted for their fuppreffion. 

" In the year 1762, the Marquis of Drogheda was 

" * There is a gross misrepresentation of these Insurgents in 
the Encyclopaedia Britannica, under the title of Ireland, printed 
by James Mooie in College-green, in the year i?90. 

B 4 fent 



376 



fent to command a large diftrict in the Province of 

of Munfter, and made Clogheen in the County of Tip- 

perary, his head-quarters ; at that time much difturbed 

by tljg white boys, who ufed to assemble in bodies of 

from five hundred to two thoufand. 

" On the night of the day on which he arrived at 

Clogheen, a number of white bovs, well-armed and 

headed by Father Nicholas Sheehy, affembled clofe to 

that town, and were on the point of attacking it, 

which induced his Lord (hip to double the guard. From 

this, the inhabitants of it, having a. fufpicion that he 

was going to march-out againft the iufurgents, Father 

Doyle, pari (h-pri eft of Ardfmnan, (alluded to in the 

information of David Landregin, Appendix No. I. 2.) 

after having expostulated with them on the danger of 

aflaulting the town, went to Lord Drogheda, pale and 

trembling with fear, affured his Lord (hip that his gar- 

rifon was in no danger, and befought him not to march- 
es " D 

out against the infurgcnts. I received this information 
from the Marquis himfelf, and it correfponds exactly 
with the depofition of Landregin. 

" His Lordftiip's regiment killed great numbers of 
them, in that and the adjacent country ; and he affured 
me, that French money was found in the pockets of 
fome of them. 

ic His Lordfhip, during his refidence there, took the 
famous Father Nicholas Sheehy, who was afterwards 
hanged at Clonmel. He had been a noted leader of 
the White-boys, and incited them to commit murder^ 
and various outrages ; and yet his memory is held in 
fuck veneration by the popifh multitude, and the clay 
of his tomb is fuppofed to be endued with fuch fuper- 
natural powers, that various miraculous cures are im- 
puted 



STi 



pitted to it ; in eonfequence of which, it is in fuch re- 
queft among the popiih rabble, that the fexton of the 
church, where the body was interred, is obliged very 
often to renew it. 

(i The Marquifs of Drogheda took, in the Callle of 
Cahir, the domeftick chaplain of the then Lord Cahir, 
who conftantly retided with his Lordfhip, on ferious 
charges againit him for high treafon. 

<c It is mofTcertain, that theivhite-boy fyftem was at firft 
formed to co-operate with the French, who meditated 
an invafion of Ireland under Conflans ; but when that 
was defeated, and even duriug a time of profound peace, 
the barbarous rabble, free from all moral reftraint, 
elate with the hope of plunder, and fraught with dis- 
affection to a Protectant ftate, continued to commit the 
moft horrid enormities in many parts of Leinfter and 
Munfter, for above twenty-five years after. 

" John Twohy ftates in his information, that they 
begun to enlift men for the French fo early as the 
year 1756. See Appendix, No. I, 7. 

" At firft they were headed, marftialled, and difci- 
plined. by officers who had ferved in the Iri(h brigades, 
in the French fervice; but when peace was concluded, 
their leaders confifted of popifti farmers and perfons in 
a mean fitnation. 

" Mr. Conway, an Irifh Roman- Catholick gentle- 
man, refident at Paris, ufed to remit money to them, 
on the part, and by the orders, of the French Govern- 
ment ; and fome popifh merchants, of the province of 
Munfter, who received and diftributed it among the 
infurgents, were afterwards Members of the Catholick 
Committee in 1792. 

" In the year 1762, they committed fuch dreadful 

exceffes 



o tb 

excelTes in the South of Ireland, that Sir Richard Afton, 
Lord Chief Juftice of the Common Pleas, was fen t 
down with a fpecial commifhon to try them : and the 
mi dak en lenity which he (hewed them, in the course 
of his circuit, was fuch, that it encouraged them to per- 
fevere in the commiffion of enormities for fome years 
after. 

" The late Earl of Carrick and the Reverend Mr, 
Hewetfon, in the County of Kilkenny, Sir Thomas 
Maude, Baronet, (afterwards Lord de Montalt,) William 
Bagwell and John Bagenall, Efquires, of the County 
of Tipperary, took a very active part in fuppreffing the 
White Boys ; for which they were as much traduced 
and vilified as the Orange-men, yeomen, and all loyal 
fubjecls, who endeavoured to put -down the de- 
fenders, 

*' The Grand Jury af the County of Dublin were so 
much incenfed at this, that they voted an addrefs of 
thanks, Appendix I. 6. to the Earl of Carrick, and 
thofe gentlemen, for their fpiiited and laudable exer- 
tions. It appears by the examination of David Landre- 
gin, (Appendix No. I. 2) that a party of White Boys 
took a solemn oath, in the Town of Clomnel, to aflaff 
filiate the Earl of Carrick and the other gentlemen, 
of Mr. Ed- 4f As Mr. Edmund Burke, who always (hewed a 
^ 2U " d decided attachment to Popery, manifefted it for the 
flrft time on this occafion, I (hall, in touching on 
it, relate a few of the early circumnances of his life. 

" In doing fo, I mud premife, that I do not mean 
todifparagehim. I had the honour of being acquainted 
with him: and I was fo fenuble of his exalted moral 
and intellectual excellence, that I gave the following 
character of him in a pamphlet publllhed in London 

by 



379 

by J. Stockdale in 1794, which was noticed in the 
Monthly Review of April, 1795:- 

" ( His book on French affairs contains more political 
wifdom, and more profound knowledge of practical Of his ex- 

1 . cellentBool? 

government, than any that ever appeared ; and in on the 
future ages will tend to endear the Britifh constitution vo }atioB. 
to its fubjec~ts. 

" The bright effulgence .of his genius, like the fun, 
raifed-Lip fome buzzing infects, who cavilled at the 
doctrines which he advanced ; but the ftate of France 
proves the futility of their affertions, and that he fpoke 
prophetic truth. 

& His long and luminous life, devoted to the caufe 
of wifdom and virtue, was more bright in its fetting, 
than the meridian blaze of molt other geniufes.' 

" He was the fon of a popifh Solicitor in Dublin, at 
the Univerfity of which he received his education; but 
I have been allured by his contemporaries, that he did 
not, in the courfe of it, difplay any fymptoms of thofe 
mining abilities, which afterwards made the progrcfs 
of his life fo brilliant. 

'< Soon after he went to the Temple to fludy the law, 
he married a daughter of Doctor Nugent, who had 
been bred at Doway, in Flanders, and was a mod bi- 
gotted Komanjft. A year after he had gone to the 
Temple, Mr. Griffith, who was at that time fen'ing 
his apprenticeship to Mr. Burke's father, informed me, 
that his mailer lent him to London, relative to fome 
law-bufinefs, and that Mr. Edmund Burke detained 
him many days longer J.han he had permiffion to re- 
main there :, that during his ftay, he feemed much 
agitated in his mind, and that, when they were alone, 
Jie frequently introduced religion as a topick of con r 

verfatbn, 



880 



verfation, and faid, that he had ftrongreafons for think- 
ing more favourably of the Romifh perfuafion than he 
formerly did. For thefe reafons, this gentleman afTured 
me, he verily believed, that he was become a convert 
to Popery. 

ie Soon after this gentleman's return, Mr. Burke ? 
fenior, having heard a report that his ion had really 
changed his religion, was much concerned at it; be- 
caufe he had entertained the moft fanguine hopes that 
he would acquire great wealth and fame at the Irifh 
bar, from practifing at which Romanifts were excluded 
by law. 

" He therefore employed Mr. Bowen, his brother- 
in-law, who, as a linen merchant, had a very extenfive 
correfpondence in London, to make ftric~t enquiry 
about the converflon of his fon. 

" Some days after, Mr. Bowen entered his office, and 
in the prefence of the gentleman who gave me this in- 
formation, threw him a letter, faying, ' There, your 
fon is moft certainly become a Roman-Catholick.' On 
reading the letter, Mr, Burke became furious, lament- 
ing that the riling hope of his family was blafted, and 
that the expence he had been at in his fon's education 
was now thrown-away. 

" As fome of the greateft men, even at an advanced 
period of life, have become flaves to the paffion of Love, 
it is very poffible that Mr. Burke, in the fpring of life, 
when its influence is irrefiftible, and endued with a 
lively imagination, and all the tendernefs of fenfibility, 
might have conformed to the exterior ceremonies of 
Popery, to obtain Mifs Nugent, of whom he was very 
much enamoured 5 but it is not to be fuppofed, that a 
perfon of fo vigorous and highly- cultivated an under* 

Handing, 



S8i 



ftanding, could have continued under the (hackles of 
that abfurd fuperftition. 

" At laft, when he had ferved a fufficient number of 
terms to be called to the bar, he refufed to eturn to his 
native country, declaring, that the climate of it dif- 
agreed with him ; and that he expected to get fome 
employment in the line of his profeffion in America, 
through one of the Grenville family. He therefore re- 
mained in London, where he fubiifted chiefly by his 
pen, and he foon acquired a considerable degree of ce- 
lebrity, as a writer, and a man of genius, by his pub- 
lication of his Treatise on the Sublime and Beautiful, 
and by his Vindication of Natural Society, in imitation 
of Lord Bolingbroke, which introduced him to the 
notice and acquaintance of Mr.* Hamilton. When that 
gentleman came to Ireland, as Secretary to the Earl 
of Halifax, he, wifhing to avail himfelf of Mr. Burke's 
talents, folicited him to attend him, but in no official 
capacity; and he accordingly complied, 

" He accompanied him a fecond time to Dublin, when 
Mr. Hamilton was Secretary to the Earl of Northumber- 
land ; and was rewarded with a penfion of 3001. a-year. 

" When they returned to England, Mr. Hamilton 
intended to have fpoken a fpeech on the peace in the 
year 1763, which he had prevailed on Mr. Burke to 
compose. 

"It unfortunately happened, that, as he was about to 
rife, Mr. Charles Townfhend entered the houfe °, and, 
as his wit and eloquence had been always terrifick 
to him, his appearance palfiedhis exertions, and ftruck 
him dumb. Mr. Burke, enraged at this, (as they had 
united their talents in a kind of partnerfhip) faid, with 



"* * William Gerrard Hamilton, Esq- 

fome 



382 



fome warmth, e What flgnifies my making fpccche£ for 
you, when you cannot fpeak them ?' 

u A warm altercation ensued, in the courfe of which 
Mr. Hamilton informed Mr. Burke, that he had heen 
overpaid ; on which Mr. Burke, with becoming fpirit, 
refigned his pen (km, which was afterwards given to a 
gentleman who enjoys it at this time. Mr. Mc. Cor- 
mick, in his Life of Mr. Burke, is miftaken in this 
circumftance. Their quarrel became a matter of 
curiofity and debate, in the fuperior circles of fociety> 
in which the partizan's on each fide were very warm. 

" The difcufnon of this affair introduced Mr. Burke 
to the notice of Lord Rockingham, who having formed 
a friendfbip for hiuij made him an under-fecretary in 
the Treafury; but having loft that employment in fix 
months, the period of his lordfliip's adminiftratior*, 
he brought him into Parliament^ where the elo_ 
quence and the great intellectual powers dffplayed ia 
his fpeeches, will remain a finking and an eternal 
monument of his genius. 

" When the enormities committed by the White Boys 
were about to draw on them the vengeance of the law, 
and fome time before Sir Richard Afton proceeded on 
his commiffion to try them, Mr. Edmund Burke fent 
his brother Richard, (who died Recorder of Briftol,) and 
Mr. Nagle, a relation, on a miffion to Munfter, to levy 
money on the Popifh body, for the ufe of the White 
Bovs, who wereexolufively Papifts. 

"Some Roman-Catholicks complained bitterly of the 
funis of money which they extorted from them. * The 

defpotim 

"*I have no other proof that these gentlemen were employed 
by Mr. Burke, than that they declared so without reserve to 
the persons from whom they obtained money. In doing so, 

he 



383 

cfefpotifm which the (Romim prelates have over their 
own body is fuch, that they can at any lime levy large 
fums of money on them, to promote the intereft of 
their Church, which is a mod dangerous engine in a 
well-goverened (late. The open and general exercife 
of it in the years 1792, and, 1793, and again in 1794 
and 1795, was fufficient to create an alarm in the Go- 
vernment. At thofe periods, fome of the lower dalles 
of people in Munfter complained loudly of the ex- 
actions praclifed on them •, and, on being afked, for 
whatpurpofe they were ? they anfwered, that they had 
made that enquiry, and were informed, at one time, 
that it was to obtain for them the elective franchife ; at 
another, to procure the privilege of fitting in Parlia- 
ment for perfons of their own perfuafion. It is well 
known that Mr. William Todd Jones was their warm 
partizan while in the Houfe of Commons* ; and, from 
the irntemperate zeal with which fome members of that 
body fhowed in promoting their defigns, it was univer- 
fally believed that they were actuated by finiftcr mo- 
tives. 

" It was ftrongly fufpecled, that a perfon in an 
elevated iituation in England, from his lingular per- 
tinacity in adhering to their caufe, when in actual and 
open rebellion, had received fome of their contribu- 
tions; and the debates which took place in the Romiili 
Convention in the year 1792, and which the reader 
will fee in the fequel, and the Hidden, fuccefsful, and 

he might have been actuated by motives of charity and 
humanity. 

" * Mr. Jones afterwards accused, i» the pUblick prints, tbe 
Qatholick Committee, of not giving him the whole of the 
money wjiich they had promised to pay him. 

une*pe£ted 



881 

unexpected turn which their affairs took in the year 
1793, left very little room to doubt, but that fome 
extraordinary fecret influence was exerted in Eng- 
land *. 

(C In the year 1757? there appeared a very lingular 
and unqueftionable proof that thofe doctrines of the 
Romifli Church, which had difturbed the peace of 
many proteftant countries ever fince the Reformation 
took place, exifted in full force in Ireland. 

" In that year, a bill was introduced into the Houfe 
of Lords, to fecure the Proteftant fucceffion 3 in which 
there was an oath of allegiance. 
Objection " Thomas Burke, titular Bifhop of Oflbry, andpublick 
°?jj 1 g. p °' hiftoriographer to the Dominican Order in Ireland, 
ofOssoryto made the following obfervations on that oath. After 
oath of alle- animadverting on the feverity of fetting afide the dif- 
K^ et ° f erent foreign branches of the Stuart family, he fays, 
George the " Would it not exceed the greateft imaginable abfurd- 
ity, that a Catholick Prieft, who inilructs his Catho- 
lick people in the will of God, from fcripture and tra- 
dition, by his difcourfe and actions, and nourifheth 
them with the Sacrament of the Church, mall fwear 
fidelity to King George, as long as he profeffeth a he- 
terodox religion, or has a wife of that religion ; that 
then, and in that cafe, the fame Catholick Prieft ought 
inftantly to abjure the very King to whom he had 
before fworn allegiance. " Impiety moft horrible f ! 

<f Thomas Burke was made Titular Bifhop of Offory 
in 1759, and died at Kilkenny in September 1776. He 
was, as he frequently tells us, a favourite of Pope Be- 
nedict XIV., was a man of refpeclable learning, and 

"* It cannot be supposed tli.it I allude to any of his Majesty's 
Ministers, whose honour and integrity are far above my praise. 
•* f Hibernica Domini can a, pa^e 725. 

perfectly 



385 



perfectly well acquainted with the doctrines of the Ro~ 
mifh Church, the bulls and epiftles of the Popes, and 
the fentiments of the Irifh Roman -Catholicks ; and 
yet fome of the heads of the Irifh Clergy have had the 
effrontery and duplicity to vilify the talents and inform- 
ation of this writer, and to reprefent him as a dotard, 
haunted with dreams of pontifical omnipotence. But 
fuch perverfion of truth, and fuch varnifhing of odious 
doctrines, are only calculated to deceive, and can im- 
pofe on no rational man ; for all the tenets contained 
in his book were carried into practice during the late 
rebellion. 

"Burke, after reciting part of Pope Paul V.'s bull, en- 
couraging the Irifh in the rebellion, exclaims, Quid 
celebrius ? Quid infVnius *? 

cc On the flight of King James II. he fays, that he fea- 
fonably left the Britifh nation, whom he brands as 
perjurers and traitors, who confpired againft his life^ 
fubject to the flavery of this new Cromwell (meaning 
King William,) vilissimi novi hujus Cromwelli ser- 
vltute. 

" The fir ft part of his Hlbernica Dominicana was 
printed at Kilkenny, in the year 1762, the fecond in 
1772, both by Edmund Finn; but it was ftated to have 
been published at Cologne, Colonise Agrippince. 

" In fpeaking of the Gun-Powder-Plot, he fays, it 
was an invention, and that the gun-powder wasfecretly 
put under the Parliament-Houfe, by the ordet of Sir 
William Cecil, to afford a fpecious pretext for extir- 
pating all the Catholicks of England. 

cc Again, in the year 1768, when an oath of allegiance 
to be taken by the Roman-Catholjcks of Ireland, wa^ 

* What can be more famous ? What move illustrious ? 

% c in 



386 

m the contemplation of Parliament, Thomas Maria 
Ghillini, the Pope's legate at Bruflels, who had a 
complete controul and fuperintendance over all the 
northern churches, and fpoke ex cathedra, made the 
following animadverfions on that oath, in four letters 
to the Titular Archbifhops of Ireland; and thefe 
letters are ftyled by Thomas Burke, (who publifhed 
them in his Hibernica Dominicana,) literce <verl aurea 
cedroque dignce. 

" The legate treats the claufes in the propofed oath, 
containing a declaration of abhorrence and deteftation 
of the doctrines, " that faith is not to be kept with 
hereticks; and that Princes, deprived by the Pope, 
may be depofed or murdered by their fubje&s," as ab~ 
folutely intolerable ; becaufe, he fays, thofe doctrines 
are defended and contended-for by mofl Catholick 
nations, and the Holy See has frequently followed 
them in practice. On the whole he decides, that, as 
the oath is in its whole extent unlawful, fo in its na« 
N. B. ture it is invalid, null, and of no effect ; infomuch 
that it can by no means bind or oblige confidences*." 

" It is well known, that fimilar decifions have been 
uniformly made by the Roman pontiffs, on the validity 
of oaths any way detrimental to the Holy See. In 
the late rebellion, the Popifh multitude, and many 
of the Romifh clergy and gentlemen, paid no regard 
whatever to the oath of allegiance. 

" When the Emperor and the Roman-Catholick 
Princes of Germany concluded a peace called the 
Treaty of Weftphalia, in the year 1648, with the Pro- 
teftant Princes, they mutually bound each other by a 

* Page 925. This was in the supplement of that work pub- 
lished in the year 1772. 

folemn 



N.B 



387 

folemn oath, to the obfervance of it ; on which the 
Pope publifhed a flaming bull, in which he pronounced 
the oath to be null and void, as no oath could bind 
them to hereticks. This bull was expofed by Horn- 
beck, a famous German divine, in a work entitled, 
" Examen hullce papahs, qua Innocentius X, abrogate 
nitilur pacem Germanice." 

" The conduct of the Parliament of Ireland, from 
the beginning of his prefent Majesty's reign, till the 
end of the year 1793, prefents the reader with an un- 
interrupted feries of blunders in politicks. 

<c All our difgraces and misfortunes are to be found 
in the hiftory of our penal laws, and in the feeble 
execution of them, beginning with the third of George 
III. cap. 19. for indemnifying all fuch perfons as have 
been, or mail be aiding in the difperfing of riots, and 
apprehending the rioters, which was enacted for the 
fuppreflion of the White-boys. As the boidnefs and 
temerity of thefe infurgents continued to encreafe, 
the fifth of George III. cap. 8. pafled, and was en- 
titled, " An Aft to prevent the future tumultuous rifings 
of perfons within this kingdom/' The want of en- 
forcing the falutary provisions of thefe laws tended to 
encourage the White-boys in the commiffion of atroci- 
ties for above twenty years after. About the year 
1773, that fyftem of conciliation and conceffion, which 
laid the foundation of the late rebellion, began; for ? 
while this Popifli banditti, encouraged by their clergy, 
were committing the moft dreadful enormities, the thir- 
teenth and fourteenth of George III. cap. 35, to ena- 
ble Roman-Catholicks to teftify their allegiance to his 
Majefty by oath, was enafted ; but the folly and ab- 
surdity of that law were fully proved by the neceflity 
of paffing, foon after, the thirteenth and fourteenth df 

2 c 2 George 



o88 



George III. cap. 45. to prevent malicious cutting and 
wounding, and to punifh offenders, called chalkers; 
for the aflaffin in the morning teftified his alle- 
giance to his King, and at night, with his chalking 
knife, renounced his allegiance to his God, by 
mangling and maiming his fellow -creature, and 
houghing his cattle. 

"As the barbarous exceffes committed by the White- 
boys continued to encreafe, the fifteenth and fixteenth 
of George III. cap. 21. was enacted againft them. It 
recites that the fifth of George III. cap. 8. was infuffi- 
fkient for fuppreffing them ; and it ftates, " That they 
afTembled riotoufly, injured perfons and property, com- 
pelled perfons to quit their abode, impofed oaths and 
declarations by menaces, fent threatening and incendiary 
letters, obftructed the export of corn, and deftroyed 
the fame." This is an exact defcription of the de- 
fenders. 

"As their turbulence and ferocity continued to 
encreafe, and as they made a conftant practice of 
houghing foldiers in a wanton and unprovoked manner, 
the chalking act was extended, and amended by the 
feventeenth and eighteenth of George III. cap. 49. 

" Conceffion and conciliation holding pace with an 
encreafe of the enormities committed by thofe favages, 
a law paffed foon after, the feventeenth and eighteenth 
of George III. cap. 49. to enable Roman-Catholicks 
to take leafes for nine hundred and ninety-nine years, 
or. five lives, at any rent ; and by it, all lands of which 
a Roman-Catholick was at that time feized, were 
made defcendible, devifable, and transferable, as fully 
as if the fame were in the feifin of any other perfon. 

" The preamble of this act recites, < That for their 
uniform peaceable behaviour, for a long feries of 

years, 



389 



years, it appears reafonable and expedient to relax 
feveral of their incapacities and difabilities.' The 
falfity and inconfiftency of this aflertion will be an 
eternal ftain on the Parliament of Ireland. 

c * There is no doubt, but that the Romanifts had 
fome hired agents in that aflembly at this period. A 
ftrong argument in favour of an Union ! 

" As a mark of gratitude for thefe indulgences, 
this infamous banditti proceeded to commit greater 
enormities than they had practiced before, in confe- 
quence of which the legiflature were obliged to pafs 
the eighteenth and nineteenth of George III. cap. 37. 
and the title of it will fhew how neceflary it was t 
6 An Act to prevent the deteftable practice of houghing 
cattle, burning houfes, barns, haggards, and corn ; and 
for other purpofes.' 

<e Though they continued to commit their ufual excef- 
fes, the legiflature, actuated by what was called Liberality 
of sentiment, put the Roman-Cathoiicks on the fame 
footing with Proteftants, as to property, in the year 
1782; and almoft the whole of the restrictive laws 
were repealed. The volunteers checked, in fome de- 
gree, the barbarous outrages committed by the White- 
boys, from the year 1780 to the year 1784, when the 
inftitution began to languifli 5 and then we find them 
as furious as ever in the province of Leinfter. This 
proves how neceflary a numerous and well-armed 
police, confifling of proteftants, is to the profperity of 
Ireland. 

" In December, 1784, a body of White-boys broke 
into the houfe of John Mafon, a Proteftant, in the 
county of Kilkenny, in the night, placed him naked 
on horfeback, and having carried him in this manner 
five or fix miles from his houfe, they cut-off his ears, 
2 c 3 ancj 



390 



and in that (late buried him up to his chin ; they 
alio robbed him of his fire-arms*. 

" This year they were fo outrageous in the Province 
of Leinfter, particularly in the County of Kilkenny, 
that a denunciation was read againft them in all the 
Popifh chapels in the diocefe of Offory, on the feven- 
teenth of November, 1784. 

cc This was aftrong proof of the returning loyalty and 
obedience to the laws of the Popifh clergy of that 
diocefe; or, if they were infincere and fecretly encou- 
raged the White-boys as much as formerly, of their 
extreme duplicity. 

" As Doctor Butler, brother of Mr. Butler of Bally- 
ragget, and of the noble houfe of Ormond, was at that 
time titular Archbifhop of Cafhel, a gentleman who 
was fincerely loyal, it is very likely that he prevailed 
on his clergy to adopt this procedure. He ihould not 
be confounded with Doctor Butler, who was in that 
See when the White-boys began their excefTes. 

" All thefe privileges were granted with a good 
grace by Parliament, and they met with no oppofition 
from the conftituent body, who were at that time ex- 
ecutively Proteftants. 

" Notwithstanding fuch liberality on the part of the 
Proteftant ftate, the White-boys ftill continued to 
commit no&umal depredations in different parts of 
Leinfter and Munfter, 3 but in the latter they were 
fucceeded by a fet of infurgents called Right boys in 
1786, who refembled them in every refpe£t, except in 
the title which they aflumed. Their proceedings, 
chiefly directed againft the Proteftant clergy, were not 

* See Appendix, No. J, 8. for a few specimens of White-boy 
atrocity. 

the 



391 



the wild and extravagant efforts of rafh and ignorant 
peafants, but a dark and deep-laid fcheme, planned 
by men fkilled in the law and the artifices by which it 
might be evaded. Such men fuggefted to the farmers, 
to enter into a combination under the fanction of an 
oath, not to take their tythes, or to affift any clergy- 
man in drawing them. 

<( Some of the Proteftant gentlemen hoping to ex» 
onerate their eftates of tythes, by the machinations and 
enormities of thefe traitors, fecretly encouraged them; 
and others connived at their exceffes, till they began to 
oppofe the payment of rent, and the recovery of money 
by legal procefs ; and then they came forward in fup- 
port of the Law. 

u A form of a fummons to the clergy to draw their 
tythe, penned with legal accuracy, was printed at 
Cork, and circulated with great diligence through 
many parts of Munfter. In order to make the com- 
bination univerfal, fome of the moft active and intelli- 
gent members of it adminiftered oaths to all the lower 
clafs of people, at the Romilh Chapels and market- 
towns. 

To varnifh over the knavery and turpitude of their 
defigns, they publiihed. a tything-table, according to 
which they pretended that they would pay the clergy ; 
but to which they did not adhere 3 and, if they had 
done fo, it would not have afforded them a fubfiftence. 
Befides, by fwearing not to hire horfes to them, and by 
a great number of them combining to fever the tythe, 
and draw their corn, on the fame day, they completely 
robbed them of their property; and the Proteftant 
clergy would actually have flarved, but that an Act of 
Parliament pafled in the year 1787, to enable them to 

a c 4 recover 



392 

recover the tythes of which they had been defrauded 
in this manner. 

" At laft, the Proteftant clergy in the County of Cork 
were fo much intimidated by the menaces and infults 
which they received from them, that many were obli- 
ged to fly to the City of Cork for protection. Thefe 
traitors foon proceeded from one act of violence to 
another, and eftablifhed fuch a fyftein of terror, that 
landlords were afraid to diftrain for rent, or to fue by 
civil procefs for money due by note. They took arms 
from Proteftants, and levied money to buy ammu- 
nition. Tbey broke open goals, fet fire to hay and corn, 
and even to houfes, efpecially to thofe occupied by the 
army. At laft they had the audacity to threaten the 
Cities of Limerick and Cork, and the Town of Ennis, 
the capital of Clare, with famine ; and took meafures 
to prevent farmers and fifhermen from conveying fup- 
plies of provisions to them, They proceeded by fuch a 
regular fyftem, that they eftablifhed a kind of poft-office, 
for communication, by which they conveyed their 
notices with celerity for the purpofe of forming their 
meetings, which were frequent and numerous. 

ce This fpirit of riot and infurrection occasioned the 
pairing of a law in the year 1787, drawn by the prefent 
lord Clare, entitled, i( An Acl: to prevent tumultuous 
rifings and aflemblies, and for the more effectual pu- 
nifhment of perfons guilty of outrage, riot, and illegal 
combination, and of adminiftering and taking unlaw- 
ful oaths;" and in the formation of that law, he 
mewed the fame political wifdom, and firmnefs of mind, 
which he evinced on all fubfequent occafions. By 
that law Government were empowered to raife an 
armed police in any county they chofe; and the 

introduction 



893 

introduction of it into the Counties of Kilkenny, 
Tipperary, Cork, and Kerry, occalioned fuch a re- 
volution in the morals and manners of their inha- 
bitants, and was fo efficient in preferving focial 
order, that fome of the principal landholders in them 
declared openly in Parliament, that their eftates N « B. 
were encreafed two years purchafe in value by that 
falutary ftatute. 

" An ingenious foreigner obferved to me, that he 
never favv a country in which fo many proclamations 
were iflued againft malefactors, and the commiflion 
of crimes, as in Ireland; a fure proof of the feeble 
execution of the laws ! 

44 At laft, Do&or Woodward, Bifhop of Cloyne, Of Dr. 
fhocked and alarmed at feeing his clergy driven from wa ° r d "gi- 
their houfes to the City of Cork, whither they went !j|°P ° p f 
for an afylum, and that a confpiracy was formed for 
the deftruclion of the Proteftant Church, wrote a very 
able pamphlet, ftating the origin and progrefs of the 
infurreclion in Munfter, hoping thereby to roufe Go- 
vernment to take meafures for its defence. 

"Nothingmarkedfoftrongly the depravity of the times, 
as the malignant attacks, attended with fcurrility and 
abufe, which were made on this amiable prelate, for 
this feafonable and fpirited difcharge of his paftoral 
duty. I had the honour of being well acquainted 
with him, and I never knew a perfon more profoundly 
and elegantly learned, or fo well verfed, not only in 
every thing that concerned the ecclefiaftical depart- 
ment, but in the various duties of every line of focial 
life. Having vifited €very part of the Continent, he 
fpoke the modern languages with great fluency and 
purity, and had uncommon eafe and affability of 
manner. 

"He 



394 



" He had the moft exalted piety, and was not only 
very charitable himfelf, but an active promoter of 
publick charities. His eloquence in the pulpit was 
irrefiftible, as his ftyle was nervous and elegant; his 
voice was loud and harmonious, and he had great 
dignity of manner. 

" With all thefe exalted qualities and endowments, 
he poffeffed the moft brilliant wit, and fuch a happy 
vein of humour, as enlivened fociety wherever he 
happened to be. 

" This neceffary and important duty, the negle& 
of which would have been criminal, drew on him a 
hoft of foes, confifting of Popifh Bifhops, Priefts, 
Friars, and Prefbyterian Minifters, who abufed and 
vilified him with fmgular malignity ; and even fome 
Members of Parliament had the hardened audacity to 
arraign him with much fe verity. 

<( This amiable prelate made a moft eloquent fpeech 
in fupport of the privileges granted to the Roman-Ca- 
tholicks in the year 1782. 

"This fpirit of infurre&ion fpread over moft parts of 
Munfter. The confpirators bound each other by oath 
to relift the laws of the land, and to obey none but 
thofe of Captain Right; and fo ftrictly did they 
adhere to them, that the High Sheriff of the County 
of Waterford* could not procure a perfon to execute 
the fentence of the law on one of thefe mifcreants 
who was condemned to be whipped at Carrick-on- 
Suir, though he offered a large fum of money for 
that purpofe. He was therefore under the neceffity 
of performing that duty himfelf, in the face of an 
enraged mob. 

* The writer of these pages was High Sheriff at that time. 

After 



395 



After this long, but, I truft, not uninterefting 
extract from Sir Richard Mufgrave's Memoirs of the 
Rebellions in Ireland, I return to the permiffion which 
the King's Minifters of State in April, 1766, gave, by 
connivance, to Mr. Oliver Briand, a Roman- Catho- 
lick Prieft of the Province of Quebeck, to go to France 
in order to be confecrated as Bifhop of that Province, 
and then to return to Quebeck, and exercife his epif- 
copal functions in that Province ; which permiffion 
was at that time reported to have been obtained from 
the Marquis of Rockingham by the advice and influence 
of Mr. Edmund Burke. The only argument I beared 
alledged at that time in defence of that meafure, was 
to the following effect ; " That, lince, by the Capitu- 
" lation which Sir Jeffery Amherft granted to the Mar- 
" quis of Vaudreuil, the French Governour of Canada, 
" in September, I76O, when that country was furren- 
" dered to the Britifh arms, and by the fubfequent 
" ceffion of it to the Crown of Great-Britain by the 
Cl Treaty of Peace, iigned at Paris, in February, I763, 
" it had been ftipulated c that the worfhip prefcribed 
" by the Roman-Catholick Religion (hould be tolerated 
" in the Province, and that the Roman-Catholick 
" inhabitants mould be permitted to aflemble in their 
(C Churches and Chapels to hear Mafs, and receive 
i( the Sacraments of the Romifli Religion, as hereto- 
" fore,' it was neceffary not only to permit the Ro- 
" man-Catholick Priefts that were then in the Province 
" to continue to officiate in the faid Churches and 
" Chapels without any moleftation, but to permit other 

« Priefts, 



396 



*•' Priefts to fucceed them in the difcharge of thofe 
ie religious duties, when death, or any other event, 
e( fhall have deprived the people of the fervices of thofe 
ee who were then in office. But in the manner of pro- 
" viding for this fuccefiion of new Romifh Priefts upon 
(i the death of thofe now in Office, it is neceflary for 
te the Government to be very cautious. For, if they 
fC neglect to make fome fafe and prudent provision for 
" the regular fupply of new Priefts to fucceed to the 
" prefent fet upon the vacancies that will arife by death 
<c or any other caufe, there is great reafon to apprehend 
" that frefh Priefts will come into the Province, from 
ei Old France, who will be attached to the interefts of 
u that Kingdom, and, perhaps, be employed by the 
" French Minifters of State, as fpies and emiflaries, to 
{C keep- up a fpirit of difaffection in the minds of the 
<f French, or Canadian, inhabitants of the Province 
" to the Englifh Government, and a fecret wifh to be 
ee again fubject to the Crown of France. And, to 
" avoid this danger, the eafieft and moft prudent way 
" of proceeding feems to be to permit a Popifh Bifhop 
" of well-known Loyalty to the King of Great-Britain, 
" and who has refided for many years paft in the 
ii Province, and who has few, or no, connections with 
" Old France, fuch as Monjieur Olivier Briand, to 
' e refide in the Province in a very humble and private 
" manner, with a fmall revenue to fupport him \ that 
69 he might be ready, upon the vacancy of any Parifh- 
£e Church in the Province, by the death of the incum- 
i( bent, immediately to ordain a new Prieft that had 
cc been both born and bred in the Province, to be 
ie prefented to the faid vacant benefice; for which 
rt employments there would, probably, be always a 
< c fufficient number of young Candidates, both born 

l < and 



397 



" and educated in the Province, becaufe there is in 
w the Town of Quebeck a Seminary, or College, 
" of Roman- Catholick Priefts, of about five or fix 
" in number, which has been long ago built and 
iC endowed fufficiently with landed eftates for the 
" maintenance of the Priefts that belong to it, and 
" whofe duty it is to educate young men for the Ro- 
" man-Catholick Prieft-hood. And it was alledged 
" that fuch an humble and private Bifhop, who would 
" exercife no other of his Epifcopal powers but that of 
" ordaining Priefts, and that only at the requifition of 
" the Governour of the Province, and who might 
" therefore be confidered as a mere manufa&urer of 
" Priejisy or (according to a French expreffion which 
" was at that time reported to have been ufed by Mr. 
" Oliver Briand himfelf upon the occafion,) unjimple 
<( faiseur de pr$tres> would be a very fafe and conve- 
" nient inftrument in the hands of the Governour for 
" carrying into execution the promife made to the 
i( inhabitants cf the Province, of tolerating the worfhip 
(i of their Religion, without at the fame time incurring 
" the danger above-mentioned of admitting French 
<( fpies into the Province under the chara6ter of Ro= 
" man-Catholic Priefts." 

This was the argument that I hear'd mentioned at 
the time, as that which had been employed by the 
advocates of this meafure to prevail upon the King's 
Minifters of that time to confent to it, and which 
(enforced, probably, by the addrefs and eloquence of 
Mr. Edmund Burke,) proved fuccefsful. It is, however, 
in my opinion, rather fpecious than folid and fatis fac- 
tory. But, if it was perfectly juft and conclulive in 
favour of the meafure of permitting a Popifh Bifhop to 
refide in the Province of Quebeck, it mu ft at leaft be al- 
lowed 



398 

lowed that fuch ameafureought not tohave been adopted 
without the authority of an A& of Parliament, to take 
it out of the operation of the important and fundamental 
Statute above-mentioned of the 1ft of Queen -Eli- 
zabeth, which prohibits the exercife of any power 
derived from the Pope, not only in the Kingdom of 
England itfelf, and the dominions thereunto belonging 
at that time, but in all the dominions that (hall belong 
to it at any future; time. And therefore, for want of 
fuch an Aevt of Parliament to authorize it, the fald 
meafuie was illegal. 

But, if it had been legal, it would not have been 
a prudent me&fure, notwitflanding the plaufibility of 
the foregoing argument in it's favour. For it was 
almofl certain, that any Roman-Catholick Priefl who 
mould be permitted to refide in the Province of Que- 
beck after having been confecrated Bifhop of it, would 
(notwithftanding any declarations that he might have 
made to the Englifh Government, in order to obtain 
fuch permiffion, " that he mould confider himfelf only 
as an Ordainer of New Priejls when they mould be 
wanted to fupply the vacant benefices, and would 
never exert any of the other powers belonging to his 
Epifcopal Office,) — I fay, it was almofl certain that he 
would (notwithftanding fuch declarations) exert many 
other powers of his office over the Roman-Catholick 
inhabitants of the Province, which might have very 
important effects both on the Roman-Catholick Priefts 
and the laietv of the fame religion, and would proba- 
bly greatly check and difcourage both thofe defcriptions 
of his Majefty's new, or Canadian, fubjects from 
converting freely and aflbciating with the Britifh inha- 
bitants of the Province, and from reading the books 
of the New Teflament, and inquiring into the nature 

of 



399 



of the Proteftant Religion and it's difference from that 
of the Church of Rome ; of which inquiries the natural 
confequence would have been that many of them 
would have become converts to the Doclriue of the 
Church of England. And accordingly it was found 
that, when Mr. Oliver Briand returned into the Pro- 
vince of Quebeck, he took upon himfelf the title of 
Olivier Briand, par la Grace de Dieii et du Saint Siege, 
Evesque de Quebec, and, after having, upon his ar- 
rival in the Province in June, 1766, declined the com- 
pliments ufually paid to his predecefibrs in that high 
office, and declared t6 his friends, u that he did not 
i{ come into the Province to be a Bifhop upon the 
<c fame high footing as his predecefTors in the time of 
iC the French Government, and was not therefore 
" intitled, and did not defire, to be treated with the 
" fame ceremony and refpeft as had been ufed towards 
16 them, but that he was only unjimplefaisenrdepretress 
" a mere Ordainer of New Priefts," and having, for a 
month or two, worn only a common black gown, like 
the other Roman- Catholick Priefts, he grew tired of 
this humble way of proceeding, and dreded himfelf in 
a purple robe, with a golden crofs at his breaft, which 
are the ufual enflgns of the Epifcopal dignity among 
the Roman- Catholicks ; and afterwards he very freely 
exercifed the tremendous powers of fufpending priefts 
from the exercife of their clerical functions and de- 
priving them of their benefices, and excommunicating 
and depriving perfons of the Sacraments, and inter- 
dicting divine worfhip in Churches and Chapels , 
Amongft other exercifes of thefe high powers belong- 
ing to him as Bifhop of Quebeck, he publiflied a 
circular Letter to the Roman-Catholick inhabitants to 
exhort them to take arms for the Crown againft the. 

other 



400 



other Americans in the beginning of the American 
war, in which he promifed indulgences to thofe who 
fhould comply with his exhortations, and threatened 
thofe who mould refufe to do fo, with excommunica- 
tion. And by this Letter as well as by feveral acts of 
haughtinefs and violence, he very much difgufted the 
Canadians, as my readers may fee by confulting the 
fecond volume of my Quebeck papers, in pages 111, 

112, 113, 144. So different did his conduct 

in the Province, when in actual pofleffion of the office 
appear to be from that of the mere occafional ordainer 
of new priefts, le Jimple faiseur de pretres, which 
he had promifed to be when he follicited the permif- 
fion to return to the Province after having been made 
it's Bifhop. 

As for the advantages that, it was pretended, would 
refult to the Province of Quebeck, from the permiffion 
given to a Popifh Bifhop to refide there, by furnifhing 
a means of fupplying the vacant benefices with frefh 
Priefts without admitting any to come there from Old 
France, they might eafily have been obtained wilhout 
this dangerous and illegal meafure, by purfuing the 
following plan, ^fhe Seminary, or College, of Que- 
beck, might have been preferved, with all its members 
and teachers of Popifh divinity, and its revenues, 
(which are faid to amount to fix or feven hundred 
pounds fterling a year,) for the education of young 
Canadians to the profeflion of the Prieft-hood : and, 
when they had attained the proper age for taking orders 
in that Church, thefe young men might have been 
fent-over to England at the King's expence with the 
Governour's recommendation to his Majefty's Secre- 
tary of State for America, as young men of good 
behaviour and principles, that were fit to be made 

Priefts 



401 

iViefts and hold benefices in the Province. And from 
England they might have been fent to Munfter in 
Germany, or to the Popifti canton of Lucerne in Swit- 
zerland, (attended by fome proper arid trufty com- 
panion, who fliould have taken care that they mould 
not have fet their foot in Old France) with recom- 
mendations, if they had gone to Switzerland, from 
the Secretary of State for America to his Majefty's 
Refidentj or other Minifter, to the Swifs Cantons; 
and there they they might have been ordained to the 
Prieft-hood of the Church of Rome by the Bifhop of 
Munfter, or of Lucerne, or fuch other Roman-Catho- 
lick diftrift, (not in Old France,) as his Majefty, hi 
his Royal Wifdom, fliould have thought fit to feii} 
them to. And, when thus ordained Priefts of the 
Church of Rome by fuch foreign Popifli Bifhop, they 
fliould have returned to England, and from thence to 
Quebeck by the firft convenient opportunities, at the 
King's expence. Such a voyage to Europe would 
probably have been confidered, by the young Candi- 
dates for the Prieft-hood who mould have had occafion 
to take it, as a party of pleafure rather than a hardmip. 
And the expence of it to the Publick would have been 
trifling; perhaps 3-00I. or 400I. once in three or four 
years. For, as the whole number of pari flies in the 
Province is but 128, (at leaft it was no greater in the 
year 1 767 ; I know not how many new pariflies may 
have been created fince :) a fupply of two new Priefts 
a year, or fix or feven every three years, would have 
been fufficient to keep the benefices always full. By 
this obvious and eafy method of procuring new Priefts 
for the fupport of the Roman-Catholick Religion 
agreeably to the toleration prom ifed by the Capitulation 
and Treaty of Peace, the fuppofed neceflity of permit-' 

2 B 



402 



ting a Popifh Bilhop to refide in the Province might 
have been avoided. 

If the young French, or Canadian, scholars, edu- 
cated at the Popifh Seminary at Quebeck, for the 
prieft-hood in Canada, had been ordained priefts in 
this manner by the Bifliop of Munfter, or fome other 
Roman-Catholick bifhop in Germany, or Switzerland, 
and been immediately fent-back to Quebeck in a 
King's (hip, to be appointed to officiate in the vacant 
Churches of the Province, it would, I prefume, have 
been expedient to direct that they mould be appointed, 
or collated, to thofe Churches by the Governour of 
the Province, to hold the fame during his Majefty's 
pleafure : and thus the whole body of them would 
have been dependant on the Crown, and would, pro- 
bably, have ufed their influence over the Inhabitants 
of their feveral parifhes, to promote their attachment 
to the Englifh Government, and to induce them to re- 
linquim their former prejudices in favour of that of 
France. And, in this ftate of things, it is highly pro- 
bable that feveral of these Roman-Catholick parifb- 
priefts,. or Curates, (as they were there called,) being 
free from the controul, or authority, of any Popifh 
bifhop, or other Ecclefiaftical Superiour in the Pro- 
vince, would have ventured to read with attention the 
books of the New Testament, and to inquire into the 
grounds of the differences of the doctrines of the 
Church of Rome from thofe of the Church of Eng- 
land, and, inconfequence of fuch examination, would 
often have been inclined to adopt fome of the doctrines, 
if not all, of the Church of England, and particularly 
to think it lawful to ufe the Liturgy of the Church of 
England, tranflated into French, in their Churches, 
inftead of the Latin Mafs; and that, upon thefe changes 

in 



403 

in their opinions upon thefe fubje&s, they would have 
become the means of converting their parifhioners to 
their new way of thinking upon them, as Wiekliffi, 
the great Englim Reformer, did in England, with as- 
toniming fuccefs, in the reign of King Richard the II. 
And, that fuch changes of opinion in religious matters 
as mould have been recommended by the parim-priefts 
to their Parifhioners, would have been readily adopted 
by the latter, — and, more efpecially, that ofthelawful- 
nefs of making ufe of the Englim Liturgy, tranflated 
into French, in their Churches inftead of the Latin 
Mafs, — I have hardly any doubt, from all that I could 
collect of the fentiments and inclinations of the peo- 
ple of that province from a refidence in it during three 
years, from September, 1766, to September, 1769, 
and from converting during that time with a great 
variety of the'French, or Canadian, inhabitants of it. 
And this was alfo the opinion of that wife and judicious 
Statesman as well as great and succefsful General, Sir 
Jeffery Amherft, who conquered that whole Province 
and granted the Marquis of Vaudreuil, the French Go- 
vernour of it, the Capitulationof September, 1760. For, 
about the month of May, 1774?, when the Bill for re- 
gulating the government of the Province of Quebeck, 
was brought into the Houfe of Lords by the late Earl 
of Dartmouth, Sir Jeffery called upon me at my cham- 
bers in the Temple, to converfe upon the provifions of 
that Bill, of which he exprefled aftrong difapprobation, 
and more particularly of the claufe that eflablijhed the? 
Popifh Religion in Canada, by giving the Popifti priefts 
a legal right to their tythes, which he had expreflly 
refilled to grant them by the Capitulation of Septem- 
ber, 1760, and had referred to the future Declaration 
of the King's pleafure on that fubject; which Decla- 
2 d 2 ration 



401 



ration bad never been made from the furrender of the 
Province in September, 1760, to the introduction of 
that Quebeek-hill into the houfe of Lords in May, 
1774, and the right of the Priefts to fiie their parifh- 
ioners for their tythes in courts of Juftice, had there- 
fore been confklered as fufpended during the long in- 
terval of 14- years from September, 1760, to May, 1774. 
This claufe he therefore highly difapproved-of, as being 
a wanton and unnecefTary ejlab lift men t of Popery in 
the Province, inftead of a mere toleration of it, or 
permitnon to attend the worjhip of it in their Churches 
and Chapels without any molestation, either to them- 
Jelves or their priefts ; which was all that was ftipu- 
lated by either the capitulation of September, 1760, or 
the Treaty of Paris in February, J 763. And it was 
certainly not necelTary for the fatisfa&ion of the bulk 
of the Inhabitants of Canada, becaufe they were very 
well pleafed to be left at liberty either to pay their 
tythes, or to let it alone, as they thought fit 3 though, 
from an attachment to their religion,- they, for the 
mod part, thought fit to pay them. And 1 remember 
that Sir JefTery told me at the fame time,, that he 
thought it would have been fufficient for the fatisfaction 
of the Inhabitants of the Province, to have only per- 
mitted the Curates, or Parifh-priefts, who were in the 
Province at the time of the Capitulation, to have con- 
tinued in pofiLinon of their benefices during their lives r 
and then to have fupplied their places by Protestant 
French mini It* rs, who fhouid have conformed to the 
Church of England and have read the Liturgy of it, 
tranflated into French, to their feveral Congregations. 
And 1 remember that a French merchant at Ouebeck, 
who was a native of old France, and a man of uncom- 
mon talents and iireat reading and knowledge and 

was 



405 



was- a- profeffed Roman-Catholick, (though he was 
reckoned by many perfons of that city, to be what 
the French call a Philosopher, or an unbeliever in all 
revealed religion,) went further ftill than Sir Jeffery 
Amherft in the opinion that the Proteftant religion of 
the Church of England might have eafily been intro- 
duced into the Province. For one clay, when he dined 
with me at my houfe at Quebeck, he told me of his 
own accord, (I having faid nothing to lead to it,) that 
he was furprized that theEnglim Government had not, 
immediately after the ceffion of the Province to the 
Crown of England, bv the Treaty of Peace in Febru- 
ary, 1763, introduced into it at once the Protectant 
religion as fettled in the Church of England; adding, 
that he was perfuaded that it would have been readily 
fubmitted-to and acquiesed-in by the inhabitants of 
the Province, who, as the Clergy of the Church of 
England have retained fome of the Ecclefiaftical veft- 
ments of the Romifh Clergy, fuch as the gown, and 
band, and furplice, would have hardly perceived the 
change from one religion to the other. In this, how- 
ever, I could not agree with the Philofopher, but was 
always defirous, from motives both of Juftice and Pru- 
dence, that they mould enjoy a compleat toleration of 
their religion to the full extent of the Capitulation and 
the Treaty of Peace, but without an eftablimment of 
it, which the body of the People in the Province did 
by no means wifh-for, and which was afterwards un- 
neceffarily re-impofed upon them, rather than granted 
to them, by the Quebeck- ael: of the year 1774, 

But, whatever might have been the probability of fuc- 
cefs in a plan of gradually converting the Canadians to 
the Protestant religion, by encouraging, or, at lead, per- 
mitting, their own priefts to become the inftrui-nentsof 
2 d 3 fuch 



406 



fuch converfions, in confequence of their own free ex- 
animation of the grounds of the differences between 
the doctrines of the two religions and their fubfequent 
conviction of the errors of the Romifh doctrines; — all 
hopes of that kind were counter-acted, and almoflde- 
ftroyed, by the unfortunate meafure, adopted in the 
year 1766, of permitting Mr. John Oliver Briand to re- 
turn to Quebeck in the character of Biihop of the Pro- 
vince. For, by the power of suspending priefts from the 
exercife of their clerical functions, and depriving them 
of their benefices, and interdicting the performance of 
divine worfhip in whole parifheSj which he claimed 
and exercifed on various occafions, he kept the clergy 
In fuch aftateof terror and fubjectionto him, that no 
prieft would ever venture to exprefs any doubts concern- 
ing the doctrines of the Church of Rome, or take the 
smalleft step towards an adoption of the doctrines of 
the Church of England. Two remarkable inftances of 
his exercife of these dangerous epifcopal powers in the 
Province of Quebeck, exhibit fo clearly the imprudence 
of the meafure of permitting him to return into the 
Province in the character of its Bifhop, that, though 
they have already been publifhed in the year 1776, in 
the fecond volume of my Quebeck-papers, I will here 
reprint them. They are a tranflation from an extract: 
from a letter written in French by a Roman-Catholick 
gentleman in the Province of Quebeck to a friend in 
London in September, 1775. 



A Tranjlathn 



407 



A Translation of two anecdotes concerning 
the conduct of John Oliver Brianb, the 
Popish Bishop of Quebec k ; extracted from 
a Letter written by a person of credit in the 
Province of Que beck to his friend at London 
about the end of September, 1775. 

Seven years ago Monfieur Vincelot, the Seignior of 
Iflette, at the requifition of the bifhop of Quebeck in 
his vifitation of the pariflies of his diocefe, gave apiece 
of ground, eight French arpents fquare, for the inhabit- 
ants ofthalparifh to build a church upon. And he 
himfelf built upon it, at his own expence, an uncom- 
monly fpacious parfonage-houfe, in which the people 
of the parifh might meet to hear mafs during the time 
thechurch would take-upin building. And in this houfe 
the prieftofthe parifh lived. At the end of two years 
Monfieur Bmnd, the bifhop, at the requeft of the 
inhabitants of the higher part of the parifh, appointed 
another place for the fituation of the church which the 
inhabitants of it were to build : and the inhabitants ac- 
cordingly begun to build thechurch in this latter place; 
and in the courfe of three years (they proceeding but 
(lowly in the work) made it fit for the performance of 
divine fervice. When the building of the church was 
compleated, Mr. Vincelot relumed the poffefiion of the 
former fpot of ground and of the parfonage-houfe 
which he had built upon it ; grounding his right to 
make this refumption upon the non- performance of 
the condition upon which alone he had given this 
2 d 4? ground 



408 



ground to the pari Hi, which was "that they fhould erecl: 
a church upon it/ * This proceeding gave offence to the 
bifhop, who immediately lent orders to the Curate of 
the parifh to inform Mr. Vincelot, that what he had 
once given to the church, he could never after refume $ 
and that he, the bifhop, therefore required him immedi- 
ately to reftore the piece of ground in queftion to the 
Curate of the parifh ; and that, if he refufed to do fo, 
he, the bifhop, would immediately excommunicate him 
and all his family. This threat was difregarded by Mr, 
Vincelot; and he continued to keep poffeflion of the 
piece of ground. Upon this the Prelate flew into a 
rage, and immediately commanded the fame Curate of 
the parifh to acquaint Mr. Vincelot that he had excom- 
municated him, and had extended the excommuni« 
cation to his wife alfo, if fhe joined with him in his 
refufal to reftore the land. Upon this Mr. Vincelot 
brought the matter before one of the courts of Juftice, 
and there openly reproached the bifhop with his paf- 
fionate and violent behaviour, and his inordinate 
ambition and defire of making himfelf an abfolute ruler 
in the province, and declared him to be nothing lefs 
than a difturber of the publick peace. The Judges 
obferved a profound filence while Mr. Vincelot was 
fpeaking, and then decided, that, as the conditions 
upon which Mr. Vincelot ]iad made the donation of 
that piece of land to the parifh, had not been obfervtd, 
the land muft revert to Mr. Vincelot. This affair hap- 
pened in the month of May, J774, and wastheoccafion 
of the bifhop's relaxing very much from the haughtinefs 
and feverity with which he had before treated Mr. 
Vincelot. 

Another and a much ftronger inftanceof this bifhop's 
violence of temper happened about four months after 

the 



409 



the former. A man that lived in the parifh of St. 
John, of which Monfieur Gafpe is the Seignior, want- 
ed to marry a woman who was his coufin, though in a 
pretty diftant degree. In order to this he applied to the 
bifhop for a difpenfation to enable him to do fo. As 
Mr. Briand is rather fond of money, he required of this 
poor man, for the difpenfation he wanted, a fum of 
money which was greater than the whole value of the 
land he held in the parifh. This threw the poor man 
man into defpair; and he went to the proteftant minis- 
ter of Quebeck, and defired him to marry him. But 
the minifter refufed to do fo, and informed him of the 
reafons which induced him to make this refufal. Upon 
this the man refolves to take a new courfe of his own 
contriving. He invites his relations and friends to his 
houfe, and gives them afeaft ; and, before they fit-down 
to table, he produces his intended bride ; and, in the 
prefence of the girl's father and of all the company 
there affembled; the two parties declare their confent to 
take each other for man and wife. Now this proceed- 
ing was undoubtedly blameable ; and the man was 
liable to be punifhed for it. But the punifhment of the 
guilty parties was not fufficient to fatisfy the bifhop's 
vengeance. Befides the man and the woman who had 
been thus married, he excommunicated all the com- 
pany who had been prefent on the occalion, and all the 
inhabitants of the parifh without exception ; fo that 
Monfieur Gafpe, the Seignior of the parifh, and his 
Wife, who live at the diflance of four miles and a half 
from the place where this offence was committed, were 
involved in this excommunication. The Curate of 
Iflette, who does the duty of the parifh of St. John, was 
fent thither by the bifhop to carry this fentence of 
excommunication into execution. He accordingly comes 

to 



410 



to the pari ill -church, and extinguifhes the lamp of the 
principal altar, throws-down the wax-tapers upon the 
ground, orders the bell to ring, burns the confecrated 
bread, and carries -away the box that contained it, the 
calice, and the fun, and reads the fentence of excom- 
munication, and declares that it is to continue in force 
fo long as the parifh mail harbour within it thofe two 
rebels to the authority of the church.' Alarmed at this 
terrible threat, the inhabitants of this unfortunate pa- 
ri Hi depute their church-wardens to the bifhop to 
implore his mercy. The church -wardens repair to 
Quebeck, and on their knees intreatthe bifhop to take- 
off the excommunication. But they could make no 
im predion on him. On the contrary he behaved to 
them with the greatcft rudenefs and contempt, faying, 
il No 1 1 will by no means tale- off this excommunication, 
I will teach you to dread the power of a hi/hop : and the 
reji of the province will, in consequence of your exam- 
pie, lecome more obedient to the church, I therefore 
command you to drive those two wretches from among 
you: and) if you obey ibis command, I will then con- 
flder what il may be proper for me to do with respecl to 
the ex communication." The poor church-wardens, 
Hill on theii knees, fell into tears at thofe harm words, 
and faid in anfwer to them, " that, as those persons 
were upon their own land, they, the other parifhioners, 
had no authority to drive them out of the pari fh, as his 
Lordfhip now required them to do : but that this could 
vnly be done by the Judges." Get you gone, you black- 
guards, get out of the room this moment; ** replied 
the bifhop, and at the fame time opened them the door. 
Upon this they rofe from their kneeling pofture, to go 
out of the room. But one of them, growing bolder 
than the reft, ftayed behind in the room for a fhort 

fpace 



411 



fpace of time after the reft had quitted it, and faid to 
the bifhop in a fteady tone of voice, in the hearing of 
Mr. Mabane, (one of the Judges of the court of com- 
mon pleas,) who happened to be with thebifhop at the 
time, u My Lord, if this man had given you the 150 
Dollars which you asked of him for a dispensation to 
marry his relation, you would have granted him the 
dispensation y and then he would not have been guilty 
of this offence* And, now, my Lord, that he has been 
guilty of it, you ought to have confined your punifhment 
to him alone, and not have extended it t) the inhabitants 
of a whole parish, who are entirely innocent" Mr. 
Mabane was (truck with the juftnefs of the observation, 
and could not refrain from laughing when the man 
delivered it ; and he earneftly interceded with the bi- 
fliop to take-off the excommunication. But he did not 
fucceed. For the bifhop thought fit to continue it for 
two months longer, and then at laft took it off at the 
humble and urgent requeft of Monfieur and Madame 
Gafpe. This ftory was related to me by Francis Le 
Clerc, one of the church-wardens above-mentioned, 
who waited on thebifhop at the defire of the other 
inhabitants of the parifli on the occafion above- 
recited. 



The French extract, of which this is a tranflation, 
may be feen in the fecond volume of my Quebeck 
paper?, in pages 120, 121, 122—126. F. M. 



Remarks 



412 



Remarks on the true meaning of the words 
Toleration, Endowment, and Establish- 
ment, when applied to a Religion adopted 
and permitted in any country. 

I have obferved that Come people are apt to ufe thefe 
words in a confufed manner, or without annexing dif- 
tin6t Ideas to them, when applied to a mode of Religion 
that is permitted or adopted in any country; which 
makes it difficult to underftand their reafonings on the 
fubjecl and to come to any juft and fatisfa&ory con- 
clufions on it. It will therefore be ufeful to ftate the 
feveral diftincl: Ideas which onpht to be annexed to 

o 

them in difcuffions upon this fubjecl:. 

Now it appears to me that there are three different 
methods in which a Religion, that is permitted by the 
Government of a country to be profeffed and practifed 
in it, may be fupported, which may be diftinguifhed 
from each other by the words Toleration, Endowment, 
and Establishment. 
TheTole- When the Government of a country permits the 
Religion, profeflbrs of a Religion to meet-together in places of 
worfaip of their own building, or hiring, and to have 
divine worfhip performed in them, according to the Rites 
and Ceremonies which they chufe to adopt, by priefts, 
orminifters, of their own, whom they employ and hire 
for the purpofe, that Religion is said to be tolerated. 

Thus the Quakers are tolerated in England, and fuch 
of thePrelbyterians and other Proteftant DiflTenters from 
the church of England as comply with the conditions 

required 



413 



required by the two Toleration-acts of the 1 William 
and Mary, and the 19 of the prefent king George the 
III. are also Tolerated. But the other proteftant diiTent- 
ers, who do not comply with thofe conditions, are not 
tolerated, but are expofed to the penalties of fevere laws 
for worfnipping God according to their confciences m 
their meeting-houfes, or conventicles, as they are called' 
in thofe penal ftatutes. And in like manner the Ro- 
man-Catholick religion was tolerated in Canada from 
the conquer! of the country by Sir JeffeTy Amherft in 
September, 176O, to the paffing of the Ouebeck-act in 
June 1774, when it was eftablifhed by that Act. For 
the people were permitted toaffemble in their churches 
and chapels to hear Mafs and to receive the Sacraments, 
according to the rites of the Church of Rome, and the 
prie(ls were permitted to officiate therein, without any 
moleftation whatfoever: and the tythes and other profit? 
paid to thepriefts on this account, were paid voluntarily 
by the people who followed that mode of worfhip with- 
out any right in the priefts to compel the payment of 
them by a fuit at law. This xVksfer/hil toleration. 

But it is pofnble that a government, though it may 
think it neceflary in point of Juftice to permit the 
followers of a particular religion to meet together in 
moderate numbers to worfhip God in their own way, 
may yet not think it expedient to let that religion take 
root in the country in a manner that is likely to increafe 
the number of its votaries. And in this cafe they may 
forbid its being endowed by gifts of land, or other 
permanent property, affigned to truilees for the perma- 
nent fupport of it. This, I apprehend, would not be 
inconfittent with toleration, nor at all unjnft towards 
the profeflbrs of fuch barely-tolerated religion % becaufe 
every ftatc has a right to judge of the utility of the pur- 

pofes 



414 

pofes for which it allows the property of any of its 
members to be aliened in mortmain. 
The En- But on the other hand it is poffible that a govern- 

dowmentof . * . 

a Religion, ment may think a particular mode of religion, though 
not worthy to be fupported and encouraged by publick 
authority, yet to be fo very innocent and inoffenfive to 
the ftate that they may indulge the profeflbrs of it with 
a liberty to alien their land, or other property, in mort- 
main for the permanent fupport of the minifters and 
and teachers of it ; as in England and other countries 
in Europe, men are permitted to found ProfefTorftiips of 
the Sciences in Univerfities, or to alien a part of their 
property in Mortmain for the maintenance of the Pro- 
feflbrs of them. Where this is permitted with refpecl: 
to any particular religion, and private perfons have 
made ufe of fuch permitlion, and have fettled perma- 
nent funds for the maintenance of the minifters and 
teachers of fuch religion, that religion may be faid to 
le endowed. 
The Esta- Laftly, where the government of a country provides a 
a Religion. f un< i by their own publick authority for the mainte- 
nance of the minifters and teachers of any Religion, 
fuch a Religion is faid to he established. 

Thus, before the Reformation the Popifh religion was 
eftablifhed in England ; becaufe tythes, and other pub- 
lick funds, were appointed by the Law of the land for 
the maintenance of the priefts that taught it. And at 
the Reformation, by the ftatute of lft of Elizabeth, cap. 
1. for abolifliing the foreign Jurifdiction of the Pope ; 
all priefts who held benefices were required to abjure 
the fupremacy of the Pope, and acknowledge that of 
the Queen; that is, the benefices, or publick funds 
affigned for the maintenance of the publick teachers of 
religion, were transferred from the Popifti priefts, who 

acknowledged 



415 



acknowledged the Pope to be the head of the church, 
to the Proteftant priefts who acknowledged the Queen 
to be fo; and by that transfer the Proteftant Religion 
became established. This is. the only fenfe in which 
the Church of England can be faid to be eftablifhed at 
this day. Its priefts are paid for performing its cere- 
monies, and teaching its doctrines, by funds afligned 
to them by the publick authority of the ftate. And in 
the fame fenfe the Roman-Catholick religion may be 
faid to be eftabliftied in Canada by the late act of 
parliament in the year 1774. For a publick fund, to 
wit, the tythes of the Popifli parifhioners, that is, of 
49 perfons out of every 50 throughout the province, Is 
hereby afligned to the Romifh priefts as a maintenance 
and reward for performing the ceremonies, and teaching 
the doctrines of that religion. 

I know that fome perfons have aiTerted that this 
meafure is not an eftabliihment of the Popifth religion 
in Canada, becaufe the Proteftant parifhioners are not 
obliged to pay tythes to the Romifh priefts. But this 
affe&s only the quantum of the Provifion made for the 
maintenance of thofe priefts and the religion they are 
to teach. It is fomewhat lefs ample than it would fee 
if the Proteftants were forced to pay the tythes to them 
as well as the Roman catholicks. But the nature and 
defign of the Provifion are the fame in both cafes. It 
is a fund provided by publick authority for the fupport 
of priefts, to exercife and teach the religion of the 
church of Rome. And this, I prefume, is all that is 
meant by thofe who have affirmed that the Popifli reli- 
gion is eftablijhed by this act of parliament, and is all 
that the words, eftabl'ijhinmt of a religion, naturally 
and ufually import. 



OP 



416 

OF 

TRUE RELIGION, 

HERESY, SCHISM, TOLERATION j 

AND 

WHAT BEST MEANS MAY BE USED, 

AGAINST THE 

GROWTH OF POPERY.* 

BY JOHN MILTON, ESQ. 
The Author of Paradise Lost. 



I't is unknown to no man, who knows aught of con- 
cernment among us, that the increafe of Popery is at 
thisday nofmall trouble and ofFence to the gfeateft part of 
the nation ; and the rejoicing of all good men that it is 
fo : the more their rejoicing, that God hath given a 
heart to the people to remember ftill their great and 
happy deliverance from Popifh thraldom, and to efteem 
fo highly the precious benefit of his gofpel, fo freely 
and fo peaceably enjoyed among them. Since there- 
fore fome have already in publick with many confider- 
able arguments exhorted the people to beware the 
growth of this Romifh weed; I thought it no lefsthan 
a common duty to lend my hand, how unable foever, 
to fo good a purpofe. I will not now enter into the la- 
byrinth of Councils and Fathers.— ^an intangled wood 
which the papifts love to fight in, not with hope of 
victory, but to obfcure the fhame of an open overthrow: 
which yet in that kind of combat, many heretofore,- 

* Printed in the Year 16/3. 

and 



417 

arid one of late, hath eminently given them. And 
fuch manner of difpute with them, to learned men is 
ufeful and very commendable. But I {hall infift now 
on what is plainer to common apprehension, and what 
I have to fay > without longer introduction. 

True religion is the true worship and fervice of God, ^eiT'ion, 
learnt and believed from the word of God only. No 
man, or angel, can know how God would be worfhipped 
and ferved, unlefs God reveal it. He hath revealed and 
taught it us in the Holy Scriptures by infpired minifters, 
and in the Gofpel by his own Son and his A pottles, with 
ftri&eft command to reject all other traditions, or addi- 
tions, wbatfoever. According to that of St. Paul, 
" Though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any 
other Gofpel unto you, than that which we have 
preached unto you, let him be anathema, or accurfed." 
And Deut. iv. 2. " Ye mall not add to the word 
which I command you, neither mall you diminifh 
aught from it." Rev.' xxii. 18, 19. " If any man 
{hall add, &c. If any man {hall take-away from the 
words," &c. With good and religious reafon, there- 
fore all Proteftant churches with one confent, and 
particularly the church of England in her thirty-nine 
articles, artic. 6th, 19th, 20th, 21ft, and elfewhere, 
maintain thefe two points, as the main principles of 
true religion : that the rule of true religion is the word 
of God only: and that their faith ought not to bean 
implicit faith, that is, to believe, though as the church 
believes, againft, or without, exprefs authority of Scrip- 
ture. And, if all Proteftants, as univerfally as they 
hold thefe two principles, fo attentively and religioufly 
would obferve them, they would avoid and cut-off 
many debates and contentions, fchifms, and perfecu- 
tions, which too oft have been among them, and more 

2 E firmlv 



418 

firmly unite againft the common adverfary. For hence 
it directly follows, that no true Proteftant can per- 
fecute, or not tolerate, his fellow-proteftant, though 
differtting from him in fome opinions, but he mud 
flatly deny and renounce thefe two his own main 
principles, whereon true religion is founded ; while 
he compels his brother from that which he believes 
as the manifeft word of God, to an implicit faith 
(which he himfelf condemns} to the endangering of 
his brother's foul, whether by raih. belief, or outward 
conformity ;. for " whatfoever is not of faith, is fin." 
What He- I will now as briefly (how what is falfe religion of 
herefy, which will be done as eafily : for of contraries 
the definitions muft needs be contrary. Herefy there- 
fore is a religion taken-up and believed from the tradi- 
tions of men and additions to the word of God- 
Whence alfo it follows clearly that of all known fects* 
or pretended religions, at this day in Chriftendom, 
Popery is the only, or the greater!:, Herefy : and he who^ 
isfo forward to brand all others for Hereticks, theob- 
ftinate Papift, the onlyjieretick. Hence one of their 
own famous writers found jufl: eaufe toflile theRomiftv 
Church " Mother of error, fchool of Herefy."' And,.. 
whereas the Pa pi ft boafts himfelf to be a Roman-Ca- 
tholick, it is a mere contradiction, one of the Pope's 
bulls, as if he fhould fay, univerfal particular, a Ca- 
The true tholick fchifmatick. For Catholickm Greek fignifies 
Ihe a phra g se 0f umverfah, and the Chriftian Church was fo called 
Cathoiick as confifting; of all nations to whom the Gofpel was 

Qhurch. & ... . 

to be preached, in contradiftin&ion to the Jewim 
Church, which confifted, for the mod part, of Jews 
only. 
Of Sects. Se^fs may be in a true Church as well as in a falfe,. 
when men follow the doctrine too much for the teacher's 

fake 



419 

fake, whom they think almoft infallible; and this 
becomes, through infirmity, implicit faith; and the 
name Senary pertains to fuch a difciple. Sectaries. 

Schifm is a rent, or divifion, in the church, when it Schism. 
comes to the Separating of congregations; and may 
alfo happen to a true church, as well as to a falfe ; yet 
in the true needs not tend to the breaking of commu- 
nion, if they can agree in the right adminiftration of 
that wherein they communicate, keeping their other 
opinions to themfelves, not being deftrucYive to Faith* 
The Pharifees and Sadducees were two feels; yet both 
met-together in their common worfhip of God at Je- 
rufalem. But here the Papifts will angrily demand, 
what! are Lutherans, Calvinifts, Anabaptifts, Socinians, 
Arminians, no Hereticks ? I anfwer, all thefe may have 
fome errors, but are no Hereticks. Herefy is in the Difference 
will and choice profefTedly againft Scripture; error is Here " ni 
againft the will, in mifunderftanding the Scripture Error ' 
after all fincere endeavours to underftand it rightly : 
Hence it was faid well by one of the ancients, Cf Err 
I may, but a Heretick I will not be." It is a human 
frailty to err, and no man is infallible here on earth. 
But fo long as all thefe profefs to fet the word of God 
only before them as the rule of faith and obedience ; 
and ufe all diligence and fincerity of heart, by reading, 
by learning, by ftudy, by prayer for Illumination of 
the Holy Spirit, to underftand the rule and obey it, 
they have done what man can do : God will affiiredly 
pardon them, as he did the friends of Job : good and 
pious men, though much miftaken, as there it appears ; 
in fome points of doctrine. 

But fome will fay, (i with Chriftians it is otherwife, 

whom God hath promifed by his fpirit to teach ail 

things." True, all things abfolutely necefiary to falva- 

% E % tion ; 



4*>0 



tion : But the hotteft difputes among Proteftants, 
calmly and charitably enquired-into, will be found 
lefs than fuch. The Lutheran holds Consul stantiation 
an error indeed, but not mortal. The Calvinift is 
taxed with Predestination, and to make God the author 
of fin j not with any di (honourable thought of God, 
but, it may be, over-zealoufly afferting his abfolute 
power, not without plea of Scripture. The Anabaptift 
is accufed of denying infants their right to baptifm ; 
again they fay, they deny nothing but what the Scrip- 
ture denies them. The Arian and Socinian are charged 
to difpute againft the Trinity : They affirm to believe 
the Father, Son, and Holy Ghoft, according to Scrip- 
ture and the Apoftolick Creed ; as for terms of Trinity, 
Trim-unity, Co-essentiality sTri-persanalify, and thcYike, 
they reject them as fcholaftick notions, not to be found 
in Scripture, which, by a general Pro teftant maxim, 
is plain and perfpicuous abundantly to explain its own 
meaning in the propereft words, belonging to fo high 
a matter, and fo neceffary to be known ; a myftery 
indeed in their fophiftick fubtilities, but in Scripture 
a plain doctrine. Their other opinions are of lefs 
moment. They difpute the fatisfaclion of Chrift, or 
rather the word " Satisfaction," as not Scriptural : 
but they acknowledge him both God and their Saviour. 
The Arminian, Jaftly, is condemned for fet ting-up free 
will againft free grace ; but that imputation he dif- 
claims in all his writings, and grounds himfelf largely 
upon Scripture only. It cannot be denied that the 
authors, or late revivers, of all thefe feels, or opinions, 
were learned, worthy, zealous, and religious men, as ap- 
pears by their lives written*, and the fame [may be faidj 
of their many eminent and learned followers, perfeel 
and powerful in the Scriptures, holy and unblameable in 

their 



421 

their lives; and it cannot be imagined that God would 
defertfuch painful and zealous labourers in his Church, 
and oft-times great fufferers for their conference, to 
damnable errors and a reprobate fenfe, who had fo 
often implored the affiftance of his Spirit; but rather, 
having made no man infallible, that he hath pardoned 
their errors, and accepts their pious endeavours, fin- 
cerely fearching all things acccording to the rule of 
Scripture, with fuch guidance and direction as they 
can obtain of God by prayer. What Proteftant then, 
who himfelf maintains the fame principles, and dif- 
avows all implicit faith, would perfecute, and not 
rather charitably tolerate, fuch men as thefe, unlefs 
he mean to abjure the principles of his own religion ? 
If it be afked, how far they mould be tolerated ? I 
anfwer, doubtlefs equally, as being all Proteflants; 
that is, on all occafions ready to give account of their 
faith, either by arguing, [orby]preaching in their feveral 
affemblies, [or by] publick writing, and the freedom of 
printing. For, if the French and Polonian Proteflants 
enjoy all this liberty among Papifts, much more may 
a Proteftant juftly expert it among Protectants; and 
yet fometimes, here among us, the one perfecutes the 
other upon every flight pretence. 

But he is wont to fay, he enjoins only things indif- 
ferent. Let them be fo ftill ; who gave him authority 
to change their nature by enjoining them? if by his 
own principles, as is proved, he ought to tolerate 
controverted points of doctrine not (lightly grounded 
on Scripture, much more ought lie not to impofe 
things indifferent without Scripture. In religion no- 
thing is indifferent ; but, if it come once to be impofed, 
is either a command or a prohibition, and fo corife- 
quently an addition to the word of God, which he 
2 e 3 profeffes 



422 

profeffes to difallow. Befides, how unequal, how un- 
charitable muft it needs be, to impofe that which his 
confcience cannot urge him to impofe, upon him 
whofe confcience forbids him to obey? What can it 
be but love of contention for things not neceflary to be 
done, to moled the confcience of his brother, who 
holds them neceflary to be not done? To conclude, let 
fuch an one but call to mind his own principles above- 
mentioned, and he muft neceflarily grant, that neither 
can he impofe, nor the other believe or obey, aught in 
religion, but from the word of God only. More 
amply to underftand this, may be read the 14th and 
i5th Chapters to the Romans, and the contents of the 
14th, fet-forth no doubt but with full authority of the 
Church of England ; the glofs is this : " Men may 
not contemn, or condemn, one the other for things 
indifferent ." And in the 6th article above-mentioned, 
" whatfoever is not read in Holy Scripture, nor may 
be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man 
sis an article of Faith, or neceflary to Salvation/' 
And certainly what is not fo, is not to be required at 
all 5 as being an addition to the word of God exprefsly 
forbidden. 

Thus this long and hot conteft, whether Proteftants 

ought to tolerate one another, if men will be but ra~ 

tional and not partial, may be ended without need of 

more words to compofe it. 

The claims L e t us now enquire whether Popery be tolerable or 

ol Popery. L . 

no. Popery is a double thing to deal with, and claims 
a twofold power, Ecclesiastical, and Political, both 
ufurped, and the one fupporting the other. 

But Ecclesiastical is ever pretended to Political^ 
The Pope by this mixt faculty pretends right to king- 
doms and ftates, and efpecially to this of England 5 

thrones 5 



423 

thrones, and unthrones kings, and abfolves the people 
from their obedience to them ; fometimes interdicts to 
whole nations the publick worfhip of God, (hutting- up 
their churches: and was wont to drain-away the greateft 
part of the wealth of this then miferable land, as part 
of his patrimony, to maintain the pride and luxury of 
his court and prelates : and now, fince, through the 
infinite mercy and favour of God, we have fliaken-off his 
Babylonifliyoke, hath not ceafed by his fpies and agents, 
Bulls, and EmifTaries,[toendeavour] once to deftroy both 
kingandparliament; [and]perpetuallytofeduce,corrupt, 
and pervert as many as they can of the people. Whe- 
ther therefore it be fit or reasonable, to tolerate men 
thus principled in religion towards the ftate, I fubmit 
it to the confideration of all magiftrates, who are bed 
able to provide for their own and the publick fafety. As - The exer- 
for tolerating the exercife of their religion, fuppofing Popi°hwor- 
their ftate-a£Hvities not to be dangerous, I anfwer, that shipisido 

> ° latrous, and 

toleration is either publick or private ; and the exercife therefore 
of their religion, as far as it is idolatrous, can be tole- °" be tole- 
rated neither way : not publickly, without grievous rated ' 
and unfufferable fcandal given to all confefentious be- 
holders 5 not privately, without great offence to God, 
declared againft all kind of idolatry, though fecret. 
Ezek. viii. 7, 8. " And he brought me to the door of 
the court, and, when I looked, beholda hole in the wall. 
Then faid he unto me, fon of man, dig now in the wall: 
and when I had digged, behold a door; and he faid 
unto me, go-in, and behold the wicked abominations 
that they do here. 5 ' And ver. 12. "Then faid he 
unto me, fon of man, haft thou feen what the ancients 
of the houfe of Ifrael do in the dark ?" &c. And it ap- 
pears by the whole chapter, that God was no lefs of- 
fended with thefe fecret idolatries, than with thofe in 
2E4 publick; 



421 

publick: and no lefs provoked, than to bring-on and 
haften his judgments on the whole land for thefe alfo. 
Having (hewn thus, thatPopery, as being Idolatrous, 
is not to be tolerated either in publick or in private ; it 
mud be now thought how to remove it and hinder the 
growth thereof-, I mean in our natives, and not fo- 
reigners, privileged by the Law of nations. Are we to 
punifh them by corporal punifhment, or fines in their 
eftates, upon account of their religion ? I fuppofe it 
Hands not with the clemency of the gofpel, more than 
what appertains to the fecurity of the ftate : but, firft, 
we muft remove their Idolatry, and all the furniture 
thereof, whether Idols, or the Mafs, wherein they 
adore their God under bread and wine: for the corn- 
images and mandment forbids to adore, not only "any graven 
ah, or^n- image, but the likenefs of any thing in heaven above, 
ondobmr or m tne eartn beneath, or in the water under the earth; 
ought to be thou malt not bow-down to them, nor wordiip them ; 

prohibited 

and re- for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God." If they 
fav, that by removing their Idols we violate their con* 
fciences, we have no warrant to regard confcience 
which is not grounded on Scripture : and they them- 
felves confefs in their late defences, that they hold not 
their images nece'fiary to falvation, but only as they 
are enjoined them by tradition. 

Shall we condefcend to difpute with them ? The 
Scripture is our only principle in religion ; and by that 
onlv they will not be judged, but will add other prin- 
ciples of their own, which, forbidden by the word of 
God, we cannot aflent to. And [in feveral places of 
the gofpel] the common maxim alfo in Logick is, 
« again ft them who deny principles, we are not to 
difpute/' Let them bound their difputations on the 
(Scripture only, and an ordinary Protectant, well-read in 

the 



425 

the Bible, may turn and wind their doctors. They 
will not go -about to prove their Idolatries by the word 
of God, but turn to fhifts and evafions, and frivolous 
diftin&ions : Idols, they fay, are laymen's books, and a 
great means to ftir-up pious thoughts and devotion in 
the learnedeft. I fa)', they are no means of God's ap- 
pointing, but plainly the contrary : let them hear the 
prophets ; Jer. x. 8. " The ftock is a doctrine of vani- 
ties/' Hab. ii. 18. " What proflteth the graven image 
that the maker thereof hath graven it: the molten 
image and a teacher of lies?" But they alledge in their 
late anfwers, that the laws of Mofes, given only to the 
Jews, concern not us under the Gofpel ; and remember 
not that Idolatry is forbidden as exprefsly : but with 
thefe wiles and fallacies " comparing fea and land, 
like the Pharifees of old, to make one profelyte, they 
lead-away privily* many fimplcand ignorant fouls, men 
and women, " and make them twofold more the chil- 
dren of hell than themfelves," Mat, xxiii. 15. But 
the Apoftle hath well warned us, I may fay, from fuch 
deceivers as thefe*, for their myftery was then working. 
"I befeech you, brethren," faith he, " mark them 
which caufe divifions and offences, contrary to the 
doctrine which ye have learned ; and avoid them: for 
they that are fuch, ferve not our Lord Jefus Chrift, 
but their own belly, and by good words and fair fpeeches 
deceive the heart of the fimple," Rom. xvi. 17 3 18. 

The next means to hinder the growth of Popery, Protestants 
will be to read duly and diligently the holy fcriptures, diHgent in 
which, as St. Paul faith to Timothy, (who had known scri^ufr^ 

* " Besides what the grim wolf with privy paw 
" Daily devours apace' 
la Milton's Elegy on the death of his worthy and learned friend, 
the Rev. Mr. Edward King, written in the year 1638, and intitled 
fjycidas. 

them 



426 



them from a child,) ff are able to make wife unto falva- 
tion." And to the whole church of Coloffi ; "Let the 
word of Chrift dwell in you plentifully, with all wif- 
dom," Col. iii. 16. The Papal, Antichriftian, church 
permits not her Laiety to read the Bible in their own 
tongue: our church on the contrary hath propofed it to 
all men, and to this end tranflated it into Englifh, with 
profitable notes on what is met-with obfcure, though 
what is moft necefTary to be known be ftill plained ; 
that all forts and degrees of men, not underftanding 
the original, may read it in their mother-tongue. 
Neither let the countryman, the tradesman, the law- 
yer, the phyfician, the ftatesman, excufe himfelf by 
his much bufinefs from the ftudious reading thereof. 
Our Saviour faith, Luke x. 41, 42. " Thou art care- 
ful and troubled about many things; but one thing is 
needful." If they were afked, they would be loth to 
fet earthly things, wealth, or honour, before the wif- 
dom of falvation. Yet moft men, in the courfe and 
practice of their lives, are found to do fo j and, 
through unwillingnefs to take the pains of underftand- 
ing their religion by their own diligent ftudy, would 
fain be faved by a deputy. Hence comes Implicit faith, 
ever learning and never taught, much hearing and fmall 
proflcience, till want of fundamental knowledge eaflly 
turns to fuperftition or Popery: therefore the Apoftle 
admonifhes, Ephef. iv. 14. " That we henceforth be 
no more children, toffed to and fro and carried-about 
with every wind of dc&rine, by the Height of men, 
and cunning craftinefs, whereby they lie-in-wait to de- 
ceive. " Every member of the church, at least of any 
breeding or capacity, ought to be fo well grounded in 
fpi ritual knowledge, as, if need be, to examine their 
teachers themfelves, Acvts xvii. 11. " They fearched 

the 



427 

the Scriptures daily, whether thofe things were fo. 
Rev. ii. 2. Ci Thou haft tried them which fay they are 
apoftles, and are not." How {hould any private Chrif- 
iian try his teachers, unlefs he be well-grounded him- 
felf in the rule of Scripture, by which he is taught ? As 
therefore among Papifts, their ignorance in Scripture 
chiefly upholds Popery; fo among Proteftant people, 
the frequent and ferious reading thereof will fooneft pull 
Popery down. 

Another means to abate Popery, arises from the 
conftant reading of Scripture, wherein believers who 
agree in the main, are every -where exhorted to mutual 
forbearance and chaTity one towards the other, though 
difTenting in fome opinions. It is written that the 
coat of our Saviour was without feam; whence fome 
would infer, that there (hould be no divifion in the 
Church of Chrift. It (hould be fo indeed; yet feams 
in the fame cloth, neither hurt the garment, nor mif- 
become it; and not only feams, but fchifms will be 
while men are fallible: but, if they who difTent in 
matters not efTential to belief, while the common adver- 
fary is in the field, (hall (land jarring and pelting atone 
another, they will be foon routed and fubdued. The 
Papift with open mouth makes much advantage of our 
feveral opinions ; not that he is able to confute the 
worft of them, but that we, by our continual jangle 
among ourfelves, make them worfe than they are indeed. 
To fave ourfelves, therefore, and refift the common 
enemy, it concerns us mainly to agree within ourfelves, 
that with joint forces we may not only hold our own, 
but get ground ; and why (hould we not ? The Gofpel 
commands us to tolerate one another, though of vari- 
ous opinions, and hath promifed a good and happy 
event thereof; Phil. iii. 15. ct Let us therefore, as 

many 



428 



many as be perfect, be thus minded ; and if in any 
thing ye be otherwife minded, God (hall reveal even 
this unto yon/' And we are bid, I ThefT. v. 21 • 
" Prove all things, hold-faft that which is good." St. 
Paul judged lhat not only to tolerate, but to examine 
and prove all things, was no danger to our holding fad 
that which is good. How (hall we prove all things, 
which includes all opinions at leaft, founded on Scrip- 
ture, unlefs we not only tolerate them, but patiently 
hear them, and feriouily read them ? If he who thinks 
himfelf in the truth, profeffes to have learnt it, not by 
implicit faith, but by attentive ftudy of the fcriptures, 
and full perflation of heart ; with what equity can he 
refufe to hear or read him, who demonstrates to have 
gained his knowledge by the fame way ? Is it a fair 
conrfe to aiTert truth, by arrogating to himfelf the only 
freedom of fpeech. and flopping the months of others 
equally gifted ? This is the direcl: way to bring-in that 
papiftical, implicit, faith which we all difclaim. They 
pretend it would unfettle the weaker fort ; the fame 
groundless fear is pretended by theRomifh clergy. At 
leafl; then, let them have leave to write in Latin, which 
the common people underftand not ; that what they 
hold may be difcufled among the learned only. We 
fuffer the Idolatrous books of Papifts, without this fear, 
to be fold and read as common as our own : why not 
much rather of Anabaptifts, Arians, Arminians, and So- 
cinians ? There is no learned man but will confefs he 
hath much profited by reading controversies, his fenfes 
awakened, his judgement fharpened, and the truth 
which be holds, more firmly eftablifhed. If then it be 
profitable for him to read, why flvould it not, at leaft, 
be tolerable andfree for his adverfary towriie? In Logick, 
they teach, that contraries laid-together more evidently 

appear; 



429 

appear; it follows then, that, all controverfy being per- 
mitted, falfhood will appear the more falfe, and truth 
the more true ; which muff, needs conduce much, not A * IC10U ? 

course ot 

only to the confounding of Popery, but to the general life disposes 

r . ,..,.. . men to fail 

continuation or ummplicit truth. imoPopery-. 

The laft means to avoid Popery, is to amend our 
lives. It is a general complaint that this Nation, of late 
years, is grown more numeroufly and exceffively 
vicious than heretofore; pride, luxury, drunkennefs, 
whoredom, curling, fwearing, bold and open atheifm, 
every-where abounding : where thefe grow, no wonder 
if Popery alio grow a-pace. There is no man fo wicked, 
but ibmetimes his confcience will wring him with 
thoughts of another world, and the peril of his foul ; 
the trouble and melancholy which he conceives of true 
repentance and amendment he endures not, but inclines 
rather to fome carnal fuperftition, which may pacify 
and lull his confcience with fome more pleafing doc- N, B. 
trine. None more ready and officious to offer herfeif 
than the Romifh, and opens wide her office, with all 
her faculties, to receive him ; eafy confeffion, eafy 
abfolution, pardons, indulgences, maffes for him both N g 
quick and dead, Agnus Dei's, reliques. and the like: 
and he, inftead of "working-out his falvation with 
fear and trembling," ftrait thinks in his heart (like 
another kind of fool than he in the pfaltns) to bribe 
God as a corrupt Judge j and by his pmdtor, feme 
prieft, or fryer, to buy-out his peace with money, 
which he cannot with his repentance. For God, 
when men fin outragioufly, and will not he admonifhed, 
gives-over chaftizing them, perhaps, by peftilence, 
fire, fword, or famine, which may all turn to their 
good, and takes-up his fevered punifhments, hardnefs, 
befottednefs, of heart, and idolatry, to their final per- 
dition. Idolatry brought the Heathen to heinous 

trans- 



430 

Jtranfgreffions, Edm* ii. And heinous tranfgreflions 
oft-times bring the flight profeflbrs of true religion, 
to grofs Idolatry : I ThefT. ii. 1 i, 13. " For this caufe 
God fhall fend them flrong delufion that they fhould 
believe a lye, that they all might be damned who be- 
lieve not the truth, but had pleafure in unrighteoufnefs." 
And Ifaiah xliv. 18. fpeaking of Idolaters, te They 
have not known nor underftood; for he hath (hut their 
eyes that they cannot fee, and their hearts that they 
cannot underftand." Let us therefore, ufing this laft 
means, (laft here fpoken-of, but firfttobedone,) amend 
our lives with all fpeed \ left through impenitency we 
run into that ftupidity, which we now feek all means 
fo wearily to avoid, the worft of fuperftitions, and the 
heavieft of all God's judgements, Popery. 



By this tract on Toleration it appears that Milton, 
(though a moft powerful and vehement advocate for 
both Civil and Religious Liberty), yet thought that 
Papifts, from the hoftility of their principles to the 
members of all other Churches but that of Rome, were 
not proper objects of Toleration, under a Proteftant 
Government. How much more would he have been 
fhocked, if he had been now living, at the opinion that 
is now adopted by the new Whigs, as they call them- 
felves, who wi(h not only to tolerate them, or permit 
them to profefs the Popifh Religion, and make ufe of 
the mafs, and the Popifh facraments in their places of 
worfhip, (which is properly Toleration,) but to make 
them capable of holdingjudicial offices and adminiftering 
the laws of England in our Courts of Judicature, and 
of commanding our Navies and Armies. This they call 
Catholick Emancipation ; but I fhould think it ought 
rather to be called Catholick Exaltation. 



THE INTEREST OF ENGLAND 

ST A TED: 

OR, 

A FAITHFUL AND JUST ACCOUNT OF THE AIMS 
OF ALL PARTIES NOW PRETENDING. 

DISTINCTLY TREATING OF THE DESIGNEMENTS 

OF 

THE ROMAN CATHOLICK. 

THE ROYALIST. 

THE PRESBYTERIAN. 

THE ANABAPTIST. 

THE ARMY. 

THE LATE PROTECTOR. 

THE PARLIAMENT. 

With their Effects in respect of themselves, of 
one another, and of the Pub lick, 

CLEERLY EVIDENCING 

The unavoydable mine upon all from longer contefb 

AND 

Offering an Expedient for the compofure of the re- 

fpective Differences j to the security and 

advantage, not onely of every single , 

Interest, but to the bringing 

folid, lading, Peace unto 

the Nation, 

PRINTED IN THE YEAR 1659 AND, PROBABLY, 
ABOUT THE 20TK OF JULY. 



432 



THE 



INTEREST OF ENGLAND STATED. 



To have a thorough fenfe of our prefent Sufferings, 
and a certain knowledge of the inevitable ruine, which 
our divifions (if not compofed) will bring upon the Pub- 
lick ; as it is a matter of little difficulty in its felf, fo [is 
it] of very inconfiderable ufe. That which would be 
more behoveful, were to find-out an Expedient, for the 
alleviating the ills we now feel, and the prevention of 
thofe we fear; both of which, having been by feveral 
means, during a long tract of time, in vain attempted, 
the cafe is now by many given-over, as incurable. But, 
upon ferious Confideration, it appears, that not the 
Malignancy of our difeafe has oecafioned thofe mif- 
carriages, but the ill application of remedies has done 
it* In particular, that men have not either defired.to 
know, or to remove, the diftempers of the Publick, 
but laboured to throw-off their Single and immediate 
prefTures, and, to that end, endevoured to advance the 
party they adhered-to, and to beat-down all others : 
whereby it came-about, that Divifions, in (lead of 
Compofure, have ftill grown wider; and paflionate 
Hates, inftead of being allayed, have rifen higher, and 
been more exafperated. But, it being certain, that the 
real good of the Nation, confifts not in the private 
benefit of fingle Men, but the advantage of the Publick ; 
and that is made-up, not by the Welfare of any one 
Party, but of all ; 'tis evident, that the only means to 

procure 



4SS 

procure the general good, mud be commenfurate unto 

the whole Community; looking upon all perfons, not 

as Heads, orPartifans, of any private faction or Intc.reft, 

but as Members of the Nation ; and the pretentions 

of (ingle Men, or Parties, however numerous^ are only 

fo far forth to be purfued, as they advance the other 

general Intereft. Which being laid -down as evident 

and certain truth, the next confideration -will be, what 

are the Interefts of all the feveral parties of the Nation 

now on foot, and what the Publick is ; that fo difcovery 

may be made how confident the private aims are, both 

among themfelves, and with the general : and alfo how 

poflible it is to find-out an Expedient, tor the atcheive- 

ment of the common good. 

If we take a view of the feveral pretentions, carried- a view of 

on in the Nation apart, we (hall find the mod confider- of e t hedff-* 

able to be, the Roman- Cat holtck, the Royalifl, the f ? rent p "" 
* < * r. ' ties in the 

Presbyterian, the Anabaptift, th.e Army, the FfoteSto- Nation. 
rian^ the Parliament. 

i. Tis the Roman- Catholick's aim not only to 
abrogate the penal Laws, and become capable of all 
employments in the Common-wealth; but to introduce 
his religion, to reftore the rights of the Church, and 
utterly eradicate all that he efteems Herefie. 

fi. 'Tis the RoyaliJVs defire to bring-in the King a 
Conquerour, to recover their loiTes ir>. the late War, 
be rendered capable of civil employment, and have the 
former Government of the Church. 

3. 'Tis the Presbyterian's defire to fet- up his difci- 
pline, to have the Covenant re-inforc'd, and only fuch as 
take it, to be employed in Church or State; to be 
jndempniiied in reference to what they have done, and 
fecur'd of what they poffefle. 

2 F 4, 



434 



4. 'Tis the wifii of the Baptized Churches, that there 
might be no Ecclefiaftical Government of any kind, 
nor Minifterial function, or provifion for it 5 and that 
onely perfons fo minded, mould be capable of employ- 
ment ; likewife to be indempnified for what they have, 
done. 

5. 'Tis the aim of the Army, to govern the Nation, 
to keep themfelves from being disbanded, or engaged 
in war, to fecure their pay, and to be indempnified for 
all paft acYion. 

6. Tis the defire of the Family of the late VroteBor 
to eftablifh the Heir of his Houfe, that they may rule 
him, and he the Nation, and fo both preferve and 
advance themfelves. 

7. Tis the wifh of the prefent Parliament, (as far 
as they have one common defign) to continue them- 
felves in abfolute power, by the fpecious name of a 
popular Government ; to new-model and divide, and, 
at laft, take-down, the Army, and, finally, under the 
pretence of a Committee of Parliament, or Council of 
State, fet-up an Oligarchy, refembling that of the 
thirty Tyrants in Athens. 

Laftly, 'Tis the general Intereft of the Nation to 
eftablifh the ancient fundamental Laws, upon which 
every one's propriety and liberty are built, to fettle 
Religion, to procure a general Indempnity for all 
actions paft, to revive their languifhing and almoft dead 
trade, gain an alliance with our neighbour States ; to 
put the Government in fueh hands, as, befides prefent 
force, can plead a legal title to it; into the hands of 
fuch with whofe private intereft that of the publick not 
onely confifts, but in which 'tis neceflarily involved ; 
<?/hich likewife does leaft contradict the aims of parti- 
cular 



435 

.cular parties : Laftly, the hands of fuch, vvhofe couafel 
is fit to direcT: in matters of deliberation, and courage , 
fit to vindicate the injuries of the Nation. 

Having impartially propofed the feveral Interefts that 
each Party defigns to it felf, we come now to confider 
how far they are attainable 5 or, if attained, how coa- 
Uftent with the publick benefit ; next, how confiftent 
with that of all other parties refpe&ively 5 and, in fine, 
how productive of the real benefit of themfelves. 

Fir ft, as to the Roman-Catholick pretenfions ofThcRomaa 

n tt, • • •'■'..' .... Catholick 

reftonng to the Pope his ancient revenue and juntdic- p ar ty. 
tion, and the Church all that was alienated in Henry 
the eighth's time, 'tis no way feizable ; the Ferquifites 
of the See of Rome, and the payments to the Pope, 
being greater than our Contributions fo much com- 
plained-of; and the impoffibility of reftitution of 
Church-Lands is plain from what was done in Queen, 
Maris 1 $ days, when the greateft zealots for that profef- 
fion, chofe rather to throw their p eads into the fire, 
than refign their Conveyances of Abby-Und. Then, as 
to his religion, 'tis vifibly the mine of all other parties; 
Q. Marie's reformation by fire and faggot, with all the 
terrors of the Inquifition, being infeparable attendants 
on it. Now, the bulk of the Nation being poffeft of 
the ufage they fhould have from the Roman-Catholick s 
if they prevailed, befides all other Antipathies deeply 
radicated in the minds of far the greatest, part of the Na*- 
lion; it is morally impotfible it fhould ever be introduced 
without a forraign force of fuch ftrength as to mafce an 
tbfolute conqueft ; which would involve th£ whole 
Nation, and the Papifts themfelves, in one common 
ruine : The sword not diftinguijbing the Catholiekfrom 
She Heretick; and having onely this kindness for its 
friends) to tend them speedily to Heaven, when the others n 9. 
2 W % fuer? 



436 

Were dejignedfor Hell * ; and this the Catholicks were! 
fenfible of in the invafion of 88, affuring the Queen of 
as great fidelity as (he could expect from any of her 
Proteftant Subjects. 
The Royal- Secondly, the Royalist pretention of having the King ; 
arty * an abfolute Conqueror, as it would deftroy the Interefts 
of all parties that have appeared againft him or his Fa- 
ther, would infringe the liberties of the Englijb Sub- 
je&s in general, and in fine, opprefs the Cavalier him- 
felf : befides, it is no way attainable by that party, being 
inconfiderable both in number and warlike prepara- 
tions to the reft : yet farther, mould he fo prevail, the 
looking-baek for reftitution of all damages paft in fo 
many years, were utterly againft his intereft, and would 
forfeit the moft abfolute victory : no power being 
retained by violence, however acquired thereby. And 
in thofe terms of difficulty, the fetting-up the primitive 
Government of the Church, at lead in its full height, 
againft fo great a multitude of eager difTenters, accord- 
ing to probability will not ftand. 
ThePrcs- Thirdly, the Presbyterian aim of fetting-up his 
Party!" 1 Discipline, has the former inconveniences, with the 
addition of fome others ; for, befides that its rife muft 
be the overthrow of all other parties, which are more 
confiderable in the Nation then themfelves ; that rigid 
Government no ways complies with the genius of the 
Nation, nor the frame of our Municipal Laws : which 
the late King was well aware of, when he conceded to 
thefetting of it up for three years, being fully fatisfied 
how erTe&ual an argument the experience of that fhort 
time would be to perfwade the Nation to endure fo 

* The very words of a Spanish Frier, when demanded what 
they would do with the English Catholicks in 1588. 

galling 



437 

galling and heavy a yoak no longer. As to the point 
of Indempnity, that is fecured fufficiently in the pre- 
ceeding paragraph • for, if the Cavaliers > who are the 
great fuffercrs, muft have no reparations (as I am con- 
fident they expect none) there is no other party elfe to 
fear the making any : and, as the Cafe now Hands in the 
Church, the late difcouragements for learning have 
left fo fmall a ftore of perfons fit for Ecclefiaftical em- 
ployments, that Livings will want Scholars of what 
party foever, and be fcarce fupplied } and not Scholars 
be deftitute of Livings. 

fourthly, the pretenfions of the Baptised- Churches The Bap- 
have no lefs inconvenience attending them : as firft, churches, 
importing the ruin of all other profeflions of religion ; 
the adherents to which are evidently not onely the moll 
numerous, but infinitely tfre moft fubftantial part of the 
Nation : then, if attained, they cannot poffibly fubfift, 
it being a Maxime in policy, that Religion is the Ce- 
ment of Government, without a publick profeflion of 
which, and the maintenance of Learning and M'niftry, N « B * 
Atheifme and diforder muft needs break-in. Withal, 
they having no temporal Government, either in a 
fingle perfon, or community, to which even themfelves 
would unanimoufly fubm it, they cannot incorporate into 
a civil fociety, of any kind. Laftly, the pra&ifes in 
Germany by the Anabaptijls there *, their cruelty, and 
all manner of diforder*, their taking-away all property 
of Eftates, founding it in Grace and Saintfbip, with the 
hard treatment which the Papifts in Ireland have found, 
and the Presbyterian Scots in the North part of the fame 
kingdome have lately received from that party, make all 
other parties infinitely diflatisged in their acquiring any 
power over them. 

Fifthly, as to the Armies governing the Nation ; I The Arn*y« 
2 F 3 ftall 



43S 



1650 



mall fiot inM on the inconfiderablenefs of their num- 
ber, or the intokrablenefs of being ruled by the fword, 
&e* There needs no more be faid, but that, a few weeks 
fince, they fo plainly faw the impoffibility of it, that they 
6f May*'* Were conte «t to put the pocver * into the hands of thofe 
perfons whom they had moft highly difobliged of all men, 
and whofe intereft vifibly it was (and alwayes will be) to 
pull them ('own j not knowing otherwifehow to difpofe 
either of themfelves, or the power they had taken from 
the Protestor, and the former Parliament j nay, they 
are now content to have their officers thrown-out after 
an arbitrary manner, and thofe that remain^ forced to 
take Commiffions from their new Mafters, and old 
enemies ; which are to lafb but for a few moneths, and 
poffibly be taken-away before many days pafs-ovef. In 
the mean time aw'd with the exclusion from indemp^ 
nity, as alfo with the railing County-Troops, and new 
Militia' s$ which (what ever is pretended) are defigned 
onely to check and curb them : likewife, their Arrears 
fo pitifully fatisfied, that they feem rather a jeer then 
payment j and yet they chufe to fubmit to all this, 
rather then venture the eonfufion of affuming the power 
into their own hands. 

6- The pretentions of the VroteBorian Intereft, are 
now fo lowe, fo odious 5 and, what is worfe then that, 
ridiculous to the Nation, the feveral Members of the 
family having been falfe to one another, and their beft 
friends, and the late Heir * having in his perfon betrayed 
fo much folly and cowardice, {two Ingredients which 
will deftroy any Government j) 'twould be impertinent 
to (hew that it cannot be acquired, or, if poflibly 
returned, could not be fettled ; and of the unattaina- 
bleneffe of their defign, the old Protector himfelf would 
be further evidence, whofe fticCeffes and repute iii the 

World 



the Pro- 
iectorian 
Party. 



* Richard 
Cromwell,, 



439 

World gave him advantages far before thofe any of Ms 
Line can hope to have; and yet we fee, he could never 
get that title he fo much thirfted-for ; and, if he had 
gained it (which it is credibly reported, he defigned 
upon that very day he dyed) 'tis vifible to prudent men, 
how fatal it would have been, even to him : But laftly, 
how far it would be from the Intereft of the Nation, to 
efpoufe fuch a quarrel!, as the maintenance of that 
Family, with their lives and fortunes; let them be 
Judges, who in their Addreffes folemnly promifed to do 
fo, and, within few weeks after, utterly deferted it. 

7, The remnant Parliamentary Intereft, is of like The Party 
nature ; that rifes meerly by the Armie's favour, and monwca hh. 
can ftand only on its Ruine,and the Nation's. Its plea of Par"" 11 "*' 
right is fo thin, that a fober perfon would be afhamed to 
own it; they being (topafle by other failances)long agoe, 
legally diflblved in the death of the King; after, apparent- 
ly at ieaft, [having been] made unfree by the fecluiton 
of their Members : and laftly, actually diflblved by the 
late Protector ; which was acknowledged by as many 
Members againft themfelves as fate in the intermediate 
Parliaments; efpecially in the laft, which was called That of th* 
upon the old national account, and had the authority Richard ' 
of the A& for a triennial Parliament to ground their Cromwe * 
convention. And now, to compleat the Tyranny and 
Ufurpation, this carcafe * of a Parliament, dead many 

years 

• It appears by this passage that this Common-wealth-Parlia- 
jnent, (consisting of a remnant of the famous long Parliament 
that met at Westminster on the 3d of November, 1640, and 
conducted the Civil War with King Charles the First,) was at 
this time (July 20, or 21, 1659,) spoken-of with great slight and 
contempt on account of the small number of persons of which 
it was composed, after the forcible seclusion of a great majority 
of its members in December, 1648, by the army, to make way 

2 F 4 for 



440 

years ago, being conjured-up from its afties and 
rottennefs, by the omnipotence of the Army, continues 
the old feclulion ftill, and fills not up the vacant places '* 
nay, is fo far from filling-up, that its primary aim is to 
overthrow the confutation of Parliaments ; and, though 
it pretends to popularity, dares not refer itfelf to the 
free votes of the people. Nor mav they hope to iool the 
Nation with promifes of not out-fitting a prefix! time, or 
with their 'Rotations and Fantaftical Ele&ions, which are 
no way grounded on the people's choyce, and, befides, 
lay no foundation of Settlement, as being unpracYicable; 
and, what is more, when fettled, mav be varied, both 
by their prefent Contrivers, and by thofe tuture perfons 
that (hall be chofen 5 and laftly, by the Army, without 
whofe licence nothing is valid, or of force. In fhort, 
its pretentions are far more deftru&ive to the Nation, 
then even the Vrotectorian are, it being better to 
fubmit to the luft, and ferve the ends, of one Family 

/or the trial and execution of King Charles the Fiist. And on 
tne Uth of the month of February, in the following year, 
l659-60, upon the reconciliation of General Monk and his army 
with the Mayor, Aldermen, and Common-Council of the City 
of London, (after having executed some severe orders given 
him by the Parliament against their righis and privileges, which 
had highly incensed them,) they received the name of the Rump 
Parliament, by which they are often called by Historians. Dr. 
Skinner, in his Life of General Monk, (which contains a very 
exact account of the several steps taken by him to bring-about 
the Re^oration of King Charles the Second,) informs us of this 
circumstance in these words, " But, before this, the appren- 
tices and common people, in detestation of the Juncto, (to 
whom they had given this night the lasting name of the Rump 
Parliament^) had set all the bells in the city on ringing, and kin_ 
died bonfires in every strCet^which continued till morning, and 
this Saturday night, February 11, was called The roasting of 
the Rump" Chapter xviii, Section ix. 

then 



441 

then of twelve, or thirty, or whatever number ths 
Oligarchy fixes. . Its fubfiftence depending meerly 
upon this Army, whofe vifibie Intereft it is to diflblve 
them, they cannot poftibly bring-about their ends 5 for 
fhould they take-down this, and modell a new Army, 
the Intereft of that would be the fame, though the 
men were changed ; and the mutual ruine of each 
other muft ftili continue neceflary for the fupport of 
either. 

From which premifes we may conclude ; that the 
pretentions of no party now on foot in the Nation are 
attainable: or, if attain'd, are confi (lent with the good 
of other parties, or of the Nation; or, in fine, with their 
own 5 and from hence likewife, one would be apt to 
conclude, that the rijin of the publick is inevitable ; 
there being no door of hope left open to receive, no 
method vilible to unite, fo diftant and incompatible 
ends. 

But, not-withftanding all this, 'tis not impofiible, 
no nor hard, to find an Expedient that fhall evacuate 
all thefe difficulties : not only eftablifh the general 
Concernment, but (exorbitant paffion only retrencht) 
fatisfy the reall Intereft of every party, nay, fingle 
perfon, in the Nation. 

Now to the cheerful reception of fuch an overture, I 
fuppofe there is no need to perfwade, nor more for 
to admonifh, that words and names, however rendered 
odious, are not to fright us from our certain Benefit 
and deareft Intereft. All that is demanded here, is, 
that, if, upon ferious confideration, the propofal be 
found reafonable, men would be fo kind to themfelves 
as to receive it. The Affertion I doubt not to make 
mod plain and evident, and therefore fhall as plainly 
pronounce it. Tis this, The calling-in the King, is JJj" tb . e n 

the *h e absent 



tion, 



442 

King would the certain and only means for the preservation of the 

contribute wr . , J7 . , 

most to the Kmgdome, and also of the rights and Interests of all 

Semem single persons in iu 

f£n he N *~ ^° ma ^ e tn * s evident in every part, I will retain the 
former Method, and take a juft account of all the 
before-mentioned particulars, that there may be no 
poffibility left for Fallacy or Errour. 

I begin with common national Intereft. And that 
this accords with it, becomes manifeft ; for that the firft 
requiflte, "the eftablifhing the fundamental Laws," 
neceffarily brings-in the King. This likewife affords a 
legal way for redrefling of grievances, of what kind 
foever, and a fure and full Indempnity to all perfons; 
will fettle Religion upon fuch a Bafis, as (hall give 
fatisfa&ion to all that are for Government in the 
Church ; as alfo thofe that diffent therein. It being 
vifible, that all EngUJb men are equally neer to him, 
to whom they relate, not by the private names of 
Faction or Opinion, but by that one common bond of 
Allegiance ; there being no more reafon why he fhould 
be partial in his affections to them, while they all 
agree in Loyalty, (though they differ in other matters;) 
than why a Father fhould be fond to one Son, and 
difcourage another (both being equally obedient) upon 
pretence of their divers hairs or complexions ; though 
Tyrants and Ufurpers have found it neceffary ftill to 
cajole and fool fome one faction, that they might make 
an intereft which they had not, and by any means gain 
a colour and fupport to their ufurpation. This, and this 
onely, will advance Trade, which the Spanijh and 
Dani/h quarrels have almoft deftroyed; — will give an al- 
liance with neighbour States, his Family being already 
engraffed into the principal Stems of Europe, and his 
future marriage giving opportunity to make an advan* 

tagious 



443 

tigious affinity to ftrengthen thofe prefent Interefts ^ 
this will take-off the vaft charge of Intelligence and 
bribes, which havebeen hitherto employed meerlyagainft 
the reftitutioh of his Family : will fuperceed the neceffily 
of thofe unreafofiable wars, that were begun upon that 
Jingle account, (i need not inftance in particulars to 
make myfelf underftood ) 'Twill cut-off the charge of 
the Appendages of this Crown, the Scotifb and Irljb 
Nations ; which are now from hence become a bur- 
then ; betides a ground of Everlafting Jealoufie and 
danger* Yet further j the Government being put into 
the King's hands,'twill be eftablifhed not onely by that 
power which is committed to him 5 but by the more 
fure exactors of obedience ; affection and duty. He 
being an hereditary Prince, his private intereft mud be 
the fame with that of the Nation 5 which too will not 
be limited by the prefent age, but reach pofterity. 
This likewife very well confifts with the Intereft of all 
private parties, as anon (hall be particularly made 
manifeft. Moreover^ the Government will be put into 
the hands of a perfon fo fit for employment as no one a favour 
living the like : his education through all hardmips of h ) e descrip- 
fortune, his converfe abroad in the Courts of the mod absent 
considerable of his neighbour Princes $ his managery of 
bufinefs in his own perfon 5 his engagements in warlike 
hazards 5 with others likewife of all kinds : his age 
perfectly mature; his understanding fliarp to apprehend; 
and refolution fteady to purfue ; joined with an infinite 
fweetnefs of temper $ concurring to make-up fo perfect 
a fufEciency for Empire, that the moft wanton wifhes 
of men cannot fancy any thing, that he will not 
either make good, or out-do* But farther, to manifeft 
the reftoring of his family to be the onely means of 
fettling the Nation, I add this evident proof $ " That we 

have 



444 

have made trial of all other forms of Government, and 
of his in another Line, all in vain :" Firft, of an Aristo- 
cracy, while the Roufe of Peers furvived ; then of a 
Democracy ', in the Houfe of Commons by itfelf : After, of 
a Monarchy, in the old Protector and his Son ; and now 
of an Oligarchy, in the prefent ufurpers at Westminster' 
fo that there is nothing now left us, but either Anar- 
chy or his Reftitution. Befides this, " that the ancient 
neral desire regal Government is the defire of the whole body of 
■ Jio^that*" the Nation," becomes plain from hence, that all late 
the King Parliaments, however unequally chofen, have (or 

should be _ 7 ■ • . . 

restored. were fufpefted to have) defigned the reduction of it \ 
and that this is the prefent fenfe of almoft every man, 
is fo notorious, that the late Petition # of July 6, 
addrefs'd by the men of Weflminjter to themfelves, and 
for which they give themfelves folemn thanks, knows 
not how to diflemble it, but confefTes in plain terms, 
That the Interest of the late King's Son is cryed-up and 
promoted daily, upon pretence that there will be nothing 
but confujion and tyranny until he come to govern ; and 
that such as declare for a Common-wealth are for Anar- 
chy and Confusion, and can never agree among them- 
selves what they would have. 
Of the be- I fhall not farther inlarge upon this head, but pro- 
would arise ceed to what remains before me ; to juftifie the Necef- 
ra^PartfeY" &ty of bringing-in the King, in reference to the private 
intheNa- concerns of every party in the Nation; and 

tion from . J . _ _ .. 

theRestora- 1. 'Tis the intereft of the Roman- Cathuhcks ; for by 

King l C tnat means the heavy payments now on their Eftates, 

with other burthens, will be taken-ofT; and as to the 

preffures of Penal Laws, they cannot but remember 



* That themselves penn'd that Petition, was at first easily 
conjectured, but is now certainly known. 

how 



how far from grievous they were in the late King's 
time, the Catholicks living here, notwithstanding thern, 
in a more flourishing condition than thofe of France, 
Italy, or Spain did, under their refpe&ive Princes ; 
and would do infinitely more under their natural 
King, than if any forraigner mould acquire the power 
by conqueft : Befides, they, generally having adhered 
to the late King in his Wars, have no reafon to diftruft 
the rinding favourable treatment from his Son, and a 
due (hare of that indulgence which he is ready to afford 
to even his greateft Enemies. 

2. The Royalist and Ew^/i^ Proteftant,belides that his 
principles oblige him cheerfully to pay his obedience 
where it is due, and to look no further, is likewife by his 
Intereft concerned to be content with fuch a reftitution 
of the King as allows no private reparations for paft 
fufferings; they thereby acquiring full pofleffion of 
what remains ; and the fettlement of the Nation would 
make the fmalleft eftate more advantagious than the 
greateft would be, if acquired by violence; which una- 
voydably would defeat all terms of union, and involve 
the Nation in new Wars : So likewife, if the neceffary 
parts of their way of Worfhip be fecured, (which no 
party would envy them, being in a manner gratified as 
much themfelvesj circumftanuals, other things, would 
be eafily fettled by a fair and amicable treaty. 

3. It is the Presbyterian's interefl this ; as being 
the only way to preferve himfelf from mine at the 
hands of thofe lefTer parties that have grown-up under 
him ; who, utterly oppofe all Government in the 
Church, the being and the fupports of the Ministerial 
function, and the encouragement of the party in the 
State. The fpeculative differences and contefts with 
the Epifcopal Divines, are, in the opinion of moderate 

men 



446 # 

men of either judgement, ealily attoned : And this 
complyance, as the mod neceffary, fo will it be the molt 
honourable aft to them imaginable ; filencing all thofe 
vehement fufpicions, and hard cenfures, that now pafs 
uncontroll'd ; and juftifying thofe pretenfions of Loy- 
alty to the King, which were wrote in their Banners, 
and folemnly covenanted-for in the beginning of the 
War: Befides, it is, upon the matter, what wasdefired 
at Uxhridge, and agreed-upon at the Ifle of Wight. 
But, if any of the party be unfatisfied herein, let him 
confult the late very memorable Writings of Mr. 
Prynne, which many have thought fit to deride, but no 
body ferioufly to confute ; and he {hall find what will 
abundantly convince him. 

4. As to the Intereft of the Baptized Churches ; their 
pretentions of throwing-down all other parties, being 
notfeizable j 'tis their concern to acquiefce in the moft 
moderate Church -government 5 which is certainly the 
Epifcopal, confeft to be fuch, (even as exercifed hereto- 
fore,) by all parties in their difputes and differences 
with each other; and yet is fairly capable of fuch 
farther allays, as fhall appear to be for the peace of the 
Church and Nation. Befides, it being a fundamental 
with them of the Independant way, to admit liberty of 
Confcience ; they have no reafon to be angry, if perfons 
of different Judgements proceed according to their 
principles: And, this being indulged to them, with 
the affurance of enjoying their temporal pofiefiions, 
there is nothing imaginable, which with reafon they 
can defire more. Their very Satisfaction of taking- 
down Tythes, being fo far from yielding them any real 
advantage, that 'tis moll vifible, all it will do muft be 
this, " to tranflate these payments from the Clergy to 
State-farmers " And by that time they have tafted the 

difference 



447 

difference between the precarious collections, and 
allmoft begging, of a Minifter, and the cruel exa&ions 
and gripes of a Publican's iron hands ; I dare promife 
for them, they will heartily unwifh all their unreafona* 
ble and ill-grounded defires in that behalf. 

5. It is the Intereft of the Army to call-in the King, 
For, firft, to be under a (ingle perfon, is fo palpably their 
concern, that there is fcarce a common Soldier among 
them, who is not fenfible of it : and, if fo, then 
evidently, it is better to be under him then any other ; 
for thereby they cut-off the neceffity of perpetual Wars, 
and fo the hazarding of all their acquifitions ; thereby 
they aflure themfelves, from thofe dangers of being 
taken-down, flop in pay, and defeated of Arrears : He 
being the only perfon that can (with a free Parliament) 
raife Contributions and Taxes in a legal manner, and to 
the falisfa&ion of the Nation. And [he is alfo] the only 
one that can truft them as a (landing body; which ufu ro- 
pers never muft do, as is manifeft by the treatment the 
Army has hitherto had under their feveral Mailers; 
for, to paffe by their prefent ufage, before decypher'd Hardships 
by me ; the old Protector made them Stales and pro- J^ 5 ^ 
perties, not only (to affift his Tyranny,) employing Army by 
them againft the Enemies of his particular, and not the Cromwell 
Nation's, Intereft : But he did it alfo to eafe himfelf of SjSou.™ 
fuch of them as had more honefty, wit, or courage, *" d fear of 
then he thought fit for his purpofes. Hence they were 
caft upon the Irijb, Scotti/b, Flanders, French, Jamaica, n. b. 
Service, turned on Shipboard in the Fleets, garbled, 
discarded, or removed from place to place, feldom 
trufted long under the fame Officers, nor fuffered to 
communicate Counfels, or meet at a general Rendez- 
vous. When on the other fide, a Prince that has a 
juft title to fupport him, has no ground of fuch fufpi- 

cions 



448 

cidns, but, repofing himfelf on the loyalty of his peo- 
ple, will honourably, and with affection, treat all that in 
any employment ferve him. And, as to the perfon of 
the King, he has a natural and particular refpecl: for 
this Army; however they have deferved of him: 
admiring their valour and difcipline, even when employ- 
ed againft him. I will give but one inftance, which, 
though it may feern flight, is not fo as to the point in 
hand. Tis this ; In the Jate Flanders fervice, upon 
the occafional mention of the Annie's behaviour, in the 
engagements with the Spani/h forces near Dunkirk, 
the taking of the towns, and fome other Services of 
leffer moment, he was observed ftill to give fuch an 
affectionate teilimony to the Engll/b Gallantry, as was 
no way pleafing to the leffe noble hearers, who lik'd 
to have nothing befides themfelves commended. 
Thus did he frequently contend for their honour, that 
fought againft his honour and life to boot ; and was 
their Champion, who were his Enemies, And indeed 
it would be infinitely ftrange, that they, who fo pro- 
digally fpent their blood by Sea and Land, to eftablifh 
Oliver an ungrateful Monfter 5 whofe recompence for the 
greateft merits, was only the objecting [them] unto new 
and greater dangers 3 whofe certaineft pay was f ufpicion, 
affront, and injury; then afterwards fubmitted to his 
Son, a perfon of no worth or credit, of whom this 
comparative commendation can only be given, that he 
is not fo very a Brute as his Brother 5 and (to clofe all) 
affumed the long-forgotten dregs of a caft Parliament, 
fhould envy to themfelves, the honour and advantage of 
being commanded by a Prince, of known Integrity 
and Virtue ; a Prince that loves them, even in defpight 
of all their injuries ; and (which is the higheft endear- 
ment among Soldiers) a Prince of eminent perfonal 

Valour, 



Cromwell. 



44§ 

Valour, which feveral of themfelves are witnefTes of,- 
efpecially at Worcefter and Mar dike-, and, if they 
pleafed, might be in more and fairer inftances: Laftly, a 
Prince, who is the only vifible Expedient upon earth, to 
render at once, both them and their pofterity, and the 
whole Nation, happy. Were this directed to the French- 
br Spanl/b Infantry, (thofe venal Souls, that underftand 
nothing befldes pay and plunder ;) thefe arguments 
from reafon, national Intereftand honour, would poffi- 
bly be loft: But to the Erigli'fb Army, (that (till has\ 
owned a publick Spirit, where every common man 
knows how to direcl: as well as to obey, and to judge no 
leffe then to execute,) to have propofed the Truth, mud 
be enough : nor will they fail to fix their thoughts upori 
it, or fteer themfelves as prudence {hall inftruct. 

Laftly, as to the Intere'ft of the Protector's party, and 
the Parliament, they are concerned to call in the King. 
For, it being impoffible for them to make good their 
aims, it mult be wifdome to fecure themfelves and theif 
eftates, and take part in that Oblivion and amnefty, 
which he is ready to give^ as alfo in thofe rewards^ 
which, whoever ferve him in any kind, (efpecially in 
being inftrumental to his reftitution) will be fureto have. 

Now to all this, I can forefee but one material ob- 
jection; which is, that the feveral fofementioiied parties Of the 
cannot be fecured, that the admiffion of the King will terSnedb* 

not be infidious and enfnaring to them ; and that, what- some P er * 

° sons con- 

ever engagements he now makes, when he fhall come cerning the 

to power, he will, in likely-hood; refcind and cancel, formance^ 

To which I breifty anfwer, that this is no real obiec- ? ny Condu 

J ' -i tions to 

tion at all : for fome body or other muft be trufted ftill^ wh <ch the 

i i • ,...,... . . . , , absent king 

there being no Jiving in the world without mutual con- should give 

ftdence; and whoever is inverted with power, may do^ s ^^ 

injurioudy, in defpight of any forefight: Besides, hisrestor * m 

amongft all thefe parties, where each is exafperated 

2 g again ft 



450 

N B againft the other, there will be the same, or greater^ 
caufe of jealoufie, if any of them were fuffered to prevail. 
And 'twould be worth the thinking of, whether it 
were not a manifeft Judgement of God upon us, that 
broke the treaty with the late King, upon fuggeftions, 
that it was not fafe to truft him, and chofe to rely upon 
N B the faith of one of our fellow-fubje&s : That he fhould 
of the per- prove the moft perfidious perfon in the World, to all 
Hypocrisy tnat trufted him ; to the Parliament, the Army, the 
of the late Nation, and even his private friends and allyes; info- 
Oliver much, that no hiftory of any age or people, can yield a 
parallel to him for falfeneffe, perjury, hypocrifie, and 
breach of faith ; and, if this look like judgement, 'twill 
then be worth the weighing, whether it become us to 
go-on in our unfortunate, infidel, practife {till ? In 
There are cafes of this kind, there are but two ways of affurance 5 
forthinking I mean fo perfectly uncontroulable as to be valid, if 
WngwSl e i tner °f tnem Dotn De prefent. The one is the Honefty 
faithfully f the perfon that engages; the other is his Intereft: and 

observe . 

such condi- here, not one of thefe alone is prefent, but both concur; 

dons ° which certainly muft make-up a fecurity [that will bel 

beyond all doubt orqueftion. As to the Honefty of the 
King, no malice has the impudence to blaft it ; his 
Moderation, Sobriety, and Juftice, being as well known 
as his misfortunes are. Next, as to Intereft, it vifibly 
concerns him to be punctual in his engagements; Firft, 
to offer pardon to all that ftand in need of it, and then 
moft faithfully to make it good in each particular : lofle 
of Credit infallibly breaking the Merchant and private 
dealer, but ruining more irreparably the publick, na- 
tional, one 5 when, on the other fide, precife, exacl:, 
performance ftrangely fupports both one and the other. 
Of the benefit hereof, I (hall give an eminent inftance 
of late memory in his own family, and therefore of 
which we cannot fuppofe him to be ignorant. It is his 

Grand- 



451 

Grandfather, king Henry the fourth, of France, who, of the wi^e 
after long Wars, coming to his right, befides his relief conduct^ 
from Q. Elizabeth, by no other humane aid, but the re- k J n & Henry 

; ; 3 the 4th of 

lenting and late wifdomeof his own people ; and, being France to- 

fore'd to make a peace, by many particular treaties, party that 

fUll was exact in keeping them ; and received into his J ado PP ose 4 

r o 3 his S ucces- 

entire favour, and fol id friend fhip, all thofe who had sion toth$ 
fought againft him ; and govern'd his moll important 
affairs, both Civil and Military, by the counfel and 
con duel of his fometimes Enemies ; fuch as were not 
©nely the Duke of Nevers, Villeroy, and Prefident 
Jeannin, but even the head of the League, the Duke 
of Maine hiuifelf ; to whom he committed the con- 
duct of all the force of France, (though then personally 
prefent) when the prince of Parma came to relieve 
Amiens ; and after, to make good his own promife of 
Indempnity, protected him, being queftioned for the 
Murther of Henry the third, by interpofing his own 
fupreme power, when the chambers of Parliament 
were ready to condemn him $ though thereby he was 
fure to undergoe the imputation of refcuing fo great a 
Malefactor, againft the clamours of the people, the 
regular procefs of the Law, the paflionate demands of a 
difconfolate Widow-Queen, and his own particular 
neerneflTes of the higheft mark, his relation to him both 
in Blood and in Succeffion, Yet, by doing this, he no$ 
onely fettled himfelf, but attained that greatnefs which 
no other method could have contrived for him. And 
why we fhould think the King refoly'd not to confult 
as well for himfelf, as his Grandfather did, I fuppofe ijt 
will puzzle the wifeft patrons of diftruft, to give the 
Jeaft pretence, or fhew, of reafon$ as alfo it would do, 
why we mould not take pattern by that part of the 
Story which as neerly concerns us ; for, they being 
exactly in the fame cafe we now are in, crumbled into 

£ o % as 






452 

as many divifions and fubdivifions, as fo great variety 
of Intereft and Religion in that long Civil war could 
make ; bearing an inveterate, mortal, hatred each to 
other, and almoft all of them to the King ; yet, feeing 
the mine approaching both from themfelves and Grang- 
ers, the whole French Nation did fubmit to its Prince 
again, at whofe throat their fword had fo often pointed, 
and whom they had for fo many years devoted to hell 
as well as death, under the title of Heretick and Apoftate - 3 
and,by fo doings they became fuddenly the mod flouri fil- 
ing and the moft potent people of Europe. But, befides 
this, the King has yet a farther motive to offer Grace to 
all that will accept it, and religioufly to make it good, 
that is peculiar to himfelf, and of proportionate value 
with him; the command and Ariel: injunction of his 
dying Father, whofe memory he too much efteems, not 
to fulfill that legacy and laft bequeft of his, were there 
no other motive to perfwade him. His fcrupuloufnefs 
in this particular is known to be fuch, as to become a 
charge againft him, and that with more than ordinary 
vehemence, from the hot-fpurs of the two extreme 
parties he has had occafion to deal with, the Catholick 
and the Presbyterian. The injunction I mean is noto- 
rious to every perfon, making- up a great part of the 
MifTive directed to the now prefent King, under the 
ftyle of Prince of Wales ; I cannot forbear to infert a 
few lines, as they fell from the pen of the incomparable 
Author. They run thus : 

I have offered Acls of Lidempnity and Oblivion in 
so great a latitude as may include all that can but 
suspetl themselves to be any way obnoxious to the Laws, 
and which might serve to exclude all future jealousies 
and insecurities. 

I would have you alwayes propense to the same way \ 
whenever it shall be desired and accepted, let it be, 

granted^ 



453 



granted) not onely as an a SI of State-policy and neees* 
sity, but of Christian charity and choyce. 

It is all I have now left me, a power to forgive those 
that have deprived me of all ; and I thank God 1 have 
a heart to do it, and joy as much in this grace which 
God has given me, as in all my former enjoyments ; for 
this is a greater argument of God's love to me, than any 
prosperity can be. 

Be confident, as lam, that the most [of all sides) who 
have done amiss , have done so, not out of malice, hut 
misinformation, or misapprehension of things. 

None will he more loyal and faithful to me and you, 
than those Subjecls who, sensible of their errors and our 
injuries, will feel in their own souls most vehement 
motives to repentance, and earnest desires to make some 
reparations for their former defecls *. 

But, if all this be not enough to fuperfede fufpicion 
and doubt, let me yet add a farther teftimony. The 
King admits at this day to his bofome and neereft truft, 
feveral perfons, that have been engaged againft his 
father, and fome of them in actions moft fatal to his 
affairs ; an infallible affurance, that it is only the fault of 
the reft, that they are not there too. More then this, 
concerning a future performance, to allure it, can not 
be faid or done, except it mould pleafe God to work 
Miracles ; which, I hope, nobody does now expect. 

The (hort of all is. Without trufting fome one or 
other, the Nation is certainly deftroyed s and no perfon 
in the world, befides the King, is in a capacity to avert 
the impendent ruin, or can give the like fecurity of 
himfelf, as he can do. I will not now prefcribe unto 
the reader's underftanding, in dictating an inference ;. 

* The King's Book, sect, 2?. 

$ G 3 bui 9 



454 



but, from the Premifes, defire him at his leifure to draw« 
out the conclusion. 

Having thus without paffion, partiality, or prejudice, 
endevoured clearly, to lay-down the exact cafe of the 
Nation, both in refpect of its difeafe and cure *, 'twill 
be fuperfluous to add perfwafives : for men do not ufe 
to be importuned to leave their torment or difeafe, or 
want rhetorical Enducements, after the pleadings of 
Intereft and Profit. I forbear therefore to addreffe 
myfelf unto Affection, and to beg that thing, which 
vifibly it concerns them that are courted, to render their 
importunate requeft and fuit : Nor will I enlarge upon 
the motives yet untouchtj drawn from Religion, and 
the refpects of Proteftations, Covenants, and Oaths; 
as alfo native Allegiance $ or (what is infinitely connder- 
able,) motives taken from the ftate of publick affairs 
abroad \ our neighbour Nations being now at peace 
among themfelves, and looking-out for forraign war, 
thereby to employ their ufeleffe forces j pretence, and 
colour, and defire too, for the undertaking of which, we 
have given to every one about us, in our late attempts 
on them \ and [our prefent unfettled ftate] likewife 
yeelds [them] affurance, that they (hall fucceed by our 
difagreement here among our felves. Let all this be fe- 
rioufly weigh'd : I am factor for no Intereft or Party, 
nor feek the thanks, or favour, of any perfon, but rather 
expect the fate of Reconcilers, ce to difpleafe every body." 
But let that fucceed as it {hall happen i the injury that I 
have done cannot certainly be efteemed great; all that is 
laid, amounting but to this very reafonable defire, " that 
my fellow-fubjects will remember thefe two plain truths, 
firfl, " that they are Englishmen," and fo confider the 
good of the Nation ; and then, " that they are men/ 5 
and fo purfue their own. ' 



455 



SUBSTANCE OF THE SPEECH 

or THE 

EARL OF SELKIRK, 

On Monday, the 13th of April, 1807, on the Motion of the Marquis of 
Stafford, That the House should come to a Resolution, ** That 
<( this House, feeling the necessity of a firm and stable Government 
" at this most important crisis of publick affairs, is impressed with. 
" the deepest regret at the change which has taken place in his 
ct Majesty's Councils, and that such regret is greatly increased by 
" the cause to which such change has been ascribed, it being the 
" opinion of this House, that it is contrary to the first duties of the 
" Ministers of the Crown to restrain themselves by any pledge., 
." expressed or implied, from giving to his Majesty any advice, 
f which, in their judgement, the course of circumstances may 
" render necessary for the honour and security of his dominions." 



The Earl of Selkirk declared, that the proportions 
contained in the Refolution moved by the noble Mar- 
quis had, in the .abftra&j his unqualified afTent. He 
had no dobt of the principle, that a privy Counfellor, 
who mould reftrain himfelf by a pledge, from advifing 
His Majefty to the beft of his judgement, would be 
guilty of a high breach of duty. He was alfo Satisfied, 
that the late Adminiflration poiTefTed and deferved the 
confidence of the country. He did not mean to imply 
an unreferved approbation of all their proceedings ; but 
he did not expert to fee an Adminiflration of more than 
human perfection. The fair criterion, by which to 
judge the late Adminiftration was to compare their con- 
duct with thai of others ; and in this view he was ready 
2 C 4. tQ 



456 



to maintain, that considering the fliort duration of theie 
power, they had accomplished, or put into a fair train 
of accomplishment, more important meafures of publick 
good, and that with lefs of reprehenflble conduct, than 
perhaps any Administration within our memory. He 
was alfo of opinion, that in the prefent Slate of Europe, 
the lofsof a firm and (table Adminiftration was an event 
deeply to be deplored. 

The queflion before the Hqufe, however, was not 
whether thefe principles were true, but whether it was 
proper, under all the circumftances of the cafe, for the 
Houfeto record an opinion on the fubjecl:. The plain 
object and intention of the motion, was to convey a 
•cenfure onthedifmiffal of His Majefty's late JMiniSlers, 
< as founded on an unconstitutional acf, — a cenfure in 
; which he could not concur. The adoption of this 
motion, or of any other of a Similar tendency, he con- 
sidered as an unwarrantable interference in the exercise. 
of the Prerogative. 

The right of parliament, he faid, to advife the crown, 
upon the choice of Minifters, cannot go fo far as to 
entitle the Houfe to.queftion the motives of His Majes- 
ty, fordifmifiing Minifters, who had loft his Confidence. 
The King cannot be required to take advice from men, 
in whom he cannot confide; and, were there no other 
yeafon, a diminution of Confidence is a fufficient ground 
for a change in His Majefty's councils. If, upon fuch 
a change, improper perfons are fubftituted, it becomes 
the duty, as it is the right, of Parliament to (late their 
opinion of the unfitnefs of the perfons appointed : but it 
is on thefe grounds of expediency only, that they can 
recommend one fet of men, or reprobate another. It 
can never be maintained, that the King is accountable 
%q Parliament, for his conduit in changing his Advisers. 

Sucl} 



457 

Such a doctrine would fap the foundations of the Con • 
ftitution. If the motives for a change in His Majefly's 
Councils he a fit fubjec"t for Parliamentary inveftigation, 
as well might the two Houfes proceed to the election of N > R 
a miniftry by a ballot. 

Except upon the principle here contended-for, it would 
be impoffible to prevent difcuffions, which are admit- 
ted on all hands to be utterly unfit for Parliament;— 
difcufiions upon the perfonal conduct of the King, and 
on points atiftue between him and his Minifters. To 
illuftrate this, let it be fuppofed, that the oppofite princi- 
ple were eftablifhed, " that the motives for a change of 
Minifters are a fit fubject of Parliamentary inquiry j# 
and then let an extreme cafe be put :— let it be fuppofed, 
that a Minifter fhould in council offer a grofs perfonal 
infult to His Majefty, fuch as would be an unpardonable 
offence from one individual to another, would there be 
a doubt that fuch a Minifter, (be his talents anc| his 
virtues what they may,) might be properly difmiffed } 
Now let the fuppofition be varied : inftead of a grofs 
infult, let us fuppofe an offence lefs unpardonable. The 
fuppofition admits of every poffible gradation between 
the grofTeft infult, and the moft venial inattention. 
Between the two extremes, cafes may undoubtedly be 
imagined, in which it would be a matter of the utmoft 
nicety to determine, whether the offence were, or were 
not, a fufficient grouud for difmiffing a Minifter. If 
fuch queftions as thefe are to be determined by Parlia- 
ment, where is an end of the improprieties into which 
it would lead ? and how are fuch queftions to be avoid- 
ed, if the motives of His Majefty for difmiffing His 
Minifters are to be held a fit fubjecl of inquiry ? 

"When a change of Administration takes place, on the 
ground of any great publick meafure, the propriety of 
i the 



458 



the change becomes a fit fubject of enquiry, as involved 
in the difcuffion of the meafure which led to it. The 
prefent is not a cafe of that kind, but one of thofe in 
which there is no criterion to be referred-to, except the 
feelings in His Majefty's breaft, excited by the perfonal 
behaviour of his Minifters towards him. 

The meafure, from which all this difcufiion originat- 
ed, having been abandoned by Minifters, is not the 
effential ground of difference, and therefore it is not at 
all to the purpofe to enter into the merits of that mea- 
fure. The whole queftion relates to the manner in 
which the meafure was brought-forward. — As to the 
idea of the late Minifters having had an intention to 
circumvent the King, I cannot fee the leaft ground for 
fuch an accufation : but it is not equally eafy to acquit 
them of very blameable careleffnefs, and of the want 
of a becoming attention to His Majefty. — The very 
exiftence of mifapprehenfion on fo important a point, 
would entitle us to prefume carelefTnefs ; and the ftate- 
ments made to both Houfes of Parliament, by members 
of the late Adminiftration, fully prove the fact. I 
cannot agree with fome noble Lords, who confider Hi$ 
Majefty's determination on the Catholick queftion as. 
immutable : yet, when his opinion had been fo often 
and fo ftrongly expreffed, the King had certainly a 
right to expect that a change in his opinion {hould not 
be lightly prefumed, without a very full and diftinct 
explanation. It appears, however, that Minifters did 
imagine a change in His Majefty's opinion, upon the 
mod vague inferences, and proceeded to act upon that 
fuppofition with a levity, that would fcarcely have been 
becoming on a fubject of the moil trifling confequence. 
This conduct may fairly be confidered as an act of per- 
fonal inattention to the King, requiring an apology : 

and 



459 

and when an apology might have been expected, His 
Majefty received what, without any difpoiition to 
exaggeration, may be conftrued into a defiance. 

When the late Minifters fubjoined to the Minute of 
council, in which they agreed to withdraw the Catholick 
army bill, the refervations which have been the occafion 
of fo much comment, it may be granted to them, that 
they had no difrefpe&ful intention : yet, if they did not 
take fufficient care to explain themfelves, they have no 
right to complain that their expreffions were mifunder- 
stood. The King had faid nothing which appeared to 
call for thefe refervations. The act, to which they 
were annexed, did not imply the admiffion of any 
principle to the contrary. The noble and learned 
Lord, lately on the woolfack, has himfelf ftated, that 
the deference of Minifters to the king in the prefent 
circumftances did not imply that they muft fhew the 
fame deference in others of more extreme urgency. If 
circumftances (hould hereafter have arifen, fuch as to 
render the Catholick conceffions a meafure of indifpens- 
able neceffity, without which the affairs of the nation 
could not be carried-on, it would have become the duty 
pf Minifters to ftate it to his Majefty, as a meafure 
without which they could no longer remain in office ; 
and it is altogether ridiculous to fuppofe that they would 
have been precluded from this conduct, becaufe they 
had on a former occafion relinquifhed afimilar meafure, 
at a time when it was to be confidered as expedient and 
ufeful, but not of vital importance and abfolute neceffity. 
The infertion therefore of thefe unneceffary refervations 
might fairly be confidered as a threat to renew the 
fubjecl: under circumftances of no greater neceffity than 
the prefent. This interpretation is confirmed by the 
expreffion, that the advice alluded-to was to be fubmit* 

ted 



N.B. 



460 

ed from time to tune — an expreflion which cannot eafily 
be limited to thofe cafes of impending deftru&ion, 'to 
which it is now conttrued as applying. 

Whatever might be the meaning affixed by the 
Council to thefe expreflions, it is certainly no extrava- 
gant fuppofition to imagine that the King may have 
confidered them as a difrefpe£tful defiance, and as fuch 
a fufficient ground for the immediate difmiflal of his 
Minifters. This, however, he did not refolve upon, 
but conveyed to them an expieffion of his willingnefs 
to overlook the conduct, of which he had a right to 
complain, provided he could be affured that he mould 
not meet with the like in future. Such appears to be 
the obvious fpirit and intention of that note from the 
King, which is defcribed as the demand of a pledge from 
his Minifters. Though in form that note does demand 
a pledge, fuch as Minifters could not conftitutionally 
accede to, yet it is to be confidered, that this was a 
paper, dictated on the fpur of the moment, and in which 
we are not to look for the accuracy of a fpecial pleader. 
The fpirit of it is eflfentially friendly to the Minifters, 
B and implies a reluctance, on the part of his Majefty, to 
part with them, totally irreconcileable with the Idea 
thrown-out by a noble and learned Lord, that it muft 
have been dictated by fecret advifers, and founded on a 
previous refolution to diflblve the Administration, 

It appears, then, that the difmiflal of the late Mini- 
fters may be fairly traced to the circumftances of their 
perfonal conduct towards his Majefty; and in this view 
of the matter, no one will confider it as a proper fubje£t 
of parliamentary inveftigation, whether thefe circum* 
ftances were, or were not, of fufficient weight to induce 
his Majefty to that determination. The noble Lords on 
the oppolite fide, however, abftracting altogether from 

thofe 



461 

tfiofe emotions and feelingSj from which the royal breaft 
can no more be exempt than thofe of other men, over- 
looking all the circumftances, which provoked the 
ultimate demand of a pledge, confidered the fubject as 
a dry and infulated conftitutional queftion. It would 
have been uneonftitutional, they fay, for Minifters to 
have given the pledge required, and therefore it was 
uneonftitutional to demand it : and, if this act was not 
owing to a fecret advifer, the new Minifters who accept 
offices, vacated in confequence of that uneonftitutional 
demand, muft be held as afluming the refponfibility. 

The principle, that a new miniftry are refponfible 
for the difiniflal of their predeceflbrs, and, retrofpect- 
ively, for the meafures upon which it proceeds, I hold 
to be found* conftitutional, doctrine: but the applica- 
tion, which is made of that principle to the prefent 
cafe, appears to me to be fallacious. 

That the King can do no wrong, and that he can 
never act without advice, are principles of Conftitu- 
tional Law, which, like many other doctrines of the Law 
of England, are ex prefled in figurative language; like 
all thofe principles which juridical writers exprefs- 
under the form of fictions.— Thefe maxims, ftripped of 
their metaphor and tranflated into plain language, ap^ 
pear to me to mean — ift, That the King has no power 
by the Conftitution to do any publick act of govern- 
ment, but through the medium of fome minifter, who 
is held refponfible for the act : — and, sdly, That the 
perfonal actions of the King, not being acts of govern- 
ment, are not under the cognizance of law. 

The principle, that the King can never act without 
advice, applies therefore only to acts of government. N. B, 
This interpretation is quite fufficient for the purpofe 
which that maxim is intended to effect, viz, to fecure 

the 



mi 

the people from the abufes of bad government, through 
the reftraint which the fear of refponfibility may put on 
minifters. If this responsibility attaches on every acl: 
of government, on every acl: of the King in his exe- 
cutive orlegiflative capacity, the people have all the se- 
curity, which that maxim can impart: and it would 
be abfurd to extend it to the perfonal actions of the 
King as an individual, to the occurrences of his do- 
meftick life, or to the circumftances which may arife In 
the courfe of confidential communication between him 
and his Minifters, previoufly to their determining on 
any meafure, which is afterwards to make its appear- 
ance to the publick as an acl: of government. 

Upon a change of Miniftry, the new Minifters are 
undoubtedly refponfible for the difmuTal of their pre- 
deceflbrs as a publick acl: of government 5 and, where 
the difmhTal is connected with any other publick mea- 
fure, on that likewife, retrofpcfitively, they become 
refponfible for the negative of their predeceflbrs' intent 
lions, but not for any private confultations, between 
the King and his former Minifters, which did not ter- 
minate in any publick meafure. In the prefent cafe, 
the demand of a pledge from the late Ministers cannot 
be confidered in any other light than as an occurrence 
of private confultation in the cabinet— an occurrence 
which cannot be a proper fubje& of parliamentary in- 
quiry, (ince it is only in confequence of the King's per- 
miflion that the knowledge of the faft tould ever have 
come to Parliament. That permiflion was granted for 
the fole purpofe of enabling some of his late Minifters 
to clear their characters of afperfions thrown upon 
K. B. them ; and it is furely a mod improper trefpafs upon 
the generofity which led to that permiflion, that a pro- 
ceeding, fuch as the prefent, fhould be founded upon 

it;— 



463 

it J— - a proceeding, which, however it may be intended 
by the noble perfons who bring it forward, cannot be 
debated without a continual infringement of that im- 
portant conftitutional maxim, that the.perfonal actions 
of the King are not to be made the fubject of dif- 
cufiion. 

Upon the whole then it appears that the argument 
in favour of the prefent motion refts entirely upon the 
grofs fallacy of confidering the demand of a pledge 
from Minifters as an infulated fact, and their refufal as 
the only aftignable motive for difmifling them. It 
appears, on the contrary, that, independently altogether 
of any fuch refufal, the difmiffal would have been judi- 
cable, — that, before the demand was made, circum« 
ftances had occurred which might naturally and fairly 
have led to that difmiflal. If upon receiving that Minute 
of Council, by which his Minifters agreed to give-up 
theCatholick Bill, the King, inftead of requiring that the 
refervations fhould be withdrawn, had, immediately and 
without further explanation, fent for the feals of office, 
could any one venture to fay that the act would have 
been unconstitutional ? and (hall we be told that the 
acl, which the King might conftitutionally have done 
before the demand of a pledge, became unconftitu* 
tional after that demand was refufed— that the mere' 
circumftance of the King's having inadvertently made 
a demand, which his Minifters could not with proprie- 
ty accede to, can be fufficient to annul and bar the 
exercife of one of the moll eCential Prerogatives of the 
Crown ? 

The noble Lord proceeded to ftate, that the avowecf 
object of the motion was to lead to the re-inftatement 
of the late Ministers. However much he might regret 
that a change (hould have taken place, it could by no 

mean!? 



464 

means follow that he fhould concur in machinations for 
forcing back upon the King any fet of men who had 
loft his Majefty's Confidence. He argued that no practi- 
cal good could ever arife from fuch a proceeding, even 
if it mould fucceed— that aminiftry forced upon the King 
without his cordial approbation never could be fecure, — 
that the only eottfequence would be to multiply changes; 
and that every change necerTarily involves much incon- 
venience to the publick fervice. He agreed that it was 
of peculiar importance in the prefent cirCum fiances of 
Europe, that we mould have a ftrong and ftable Ad- 
miniftration. Such, undoubtedly, the late Administra- 
tion was; and on this ground, among others, he regretted 
the change : but, though the late Admtniftration was 
ftrong, it was by no means to be inferred that, if re-in- 
ftated, it would be equally flrong. The ftrength of 
an Administration depends in a great meafure on the 
opinion, which the Publick entertains of its permanence. 
Before these unfortunate tranfacTions the late Admini- 
flration was univerfaliy suppofed to be immoveable 
ftable. Such an opinion can never be renewed. They 
formerly poffefTed the Confidence of the King and the 
Country united : now they would poffefs neither ; for, 
whatever fenfe the Publick may entertain of the great 
and fplendid abilities of the late Minifters, the confid- 
ence formerly repofed in thefe talents muft be greatly 
fhaken by a view of the extreme indifcretion of their 
proceedings. 

Lord Selkirk further obferved, that, in the prefent 
circumftances, he could not approve, or concur in, & 
fyftematick oppofition to an Adminiftration, whofe con- 
duct is as yet unknown. He thought them entitled to 
a fair (rial, and that they (hould not be condemned till 

their 



465 



their meafures fhould prove them unworthy of confid- 
ence. It is true, that many individuals of the prefent 
Admin ftration are well known, as publick characters ; 
but, as a Government, they are a new combination of 
men, and as yet untried. He could not deny that many 
members of the prefent cabinet had expreiled opinions 
on 'Various fubjects, which he did not concur with ; 
and that, from a view of their former conduct, he 
could not avoid feeling confiderable anxiety and doubt 
as to what their future conduct mi^ht be ; but he could 
not carry this fo far as to fay that they mould be ex- 
cluded, as utterly unfit to be trailed. Notwithftand- 
ing the opinions which fome of them had delivered 
againft meafures which he highly approved, he trufied 
they would fee the wifdom of the maxim, which their 
predeceflors had acted upon in coming into office, that, 
taking into confideration the unavoidable mifchiefof 
repeated changes, they ought to acquiesce in many 
things which they found eftabliflied, notwithstanding 
their having objected to them when firfl enacted. He 
referred particularly to the meafures adopted laft feffion 
for the improvement of our military fyllem, the fpirit 
of which he traded would be Hill adhered- to. It was 
alfo alledged that the new Minifters were pledged to a 
fyftem oppofite to that of conciliation in Ireland. He 
could not, however, perceive how they could fairly be 
confldered as under any fuch pledge, and he trailed 
they would take the earlier! opportunity of evincing 
the contrary, by giving to the Catholicks, not merely 
afTurances, but practical proof, that, however they 
might refill further conceflions, they were determined 
to execute, in a liberal manner, the laws already enacted 
in their favour. Such a conduct, he was perfuadedt 
would not only be more honourable, but of more ad- 

2 h vantage 



vantage to the new Minifters, and tend more to pro- 
mote the (lability of their power, than if they mould 
go-on to encourage religious animofity, and to excite 
apprehenfion in the publick mind for the fafety of the 
Ecclefiaftical eftablifhment. By raifing a cry of No 
Popery, they might gain the affiftance of a wild and 
fanatical mob, but would excite the difguft and repro- 
bation of every honeft and fenfible man in the King- 
dom. 

Lord Selkirk proceeded to ftate, that thofe who, in 
the prefent circumftances, do not approve of the avowed 
principles, or former conduct, of the newly- appointed 
Minifters, are by no means reduced to the alternative 
of joining with the determined partifans of the late 
Minifters in a fyftematick oppofition : — that there is an 
intermediate line of conduct more honourable, more 
conftitutional, better in every refpect, — that of giving 
an independent, but qualified, fupport to Government, 
fo long only as their meafures are reconcileable with the 
main and eflential objects of national fafety. — In times 
like the prefent, a fyftematick oppofition maintained by 
fo powerful a party, muft tend to embarrafs the opera- 
tions of Government, and to wafte, in the ftruggle for 
power, that ftrength which ought to be directed againft 
the common Enemy. Such proceedings may be fit 
for thofe, whofe Interefts are involved in the re-efta- 
blifhment of any particular Individual at the head of Ad- 
miniftration : but thofe who are fenfible of the immi- 
nent danger of our iituation, and whofe primary object 
is that national fafety, in which our all is involved, 
will not be inclined to join the violent partifans' of 
either fide of the Houfe* If a few perfons of acknow- 
ledged character would unite in an independent line 
of conduct, they mull gain the confidence of the peo- 
ple; 



46; 



pie; though their numbers might at firft be fmall, 
every thing they might fay would carry weigh*, and 
even a fmall phalanx of fuch men might be able to 
reprefs ebullitions of a factious fpirit, whether it 
mould appear on the one fide of the Houfe or on the 
other. 



S H 2 A SHOaX 



468 



A SHORT VIEW OF THE GROUNDS AND PRINCIPLES 

OF THE GLORIOUS REVOLUTION IN ENGLAND IN 
THE YEAR 1688. ■ * -' 



THEfollowing tract: was publimed in the year 1807, as 
a Preface to a third edition of the celebrated Debates in 
the Houfe of Commons in the month of October in the 
year 1680, on the Bill for excluding James Duke of 
York, the brother of the then reigning king, Charles 
the 2d, from the fucceffion to the Crown, upon the 
ground of his being a Papift^ and likely, from the 
intolerant principles of the Popifh religion, and his 
known zeal for its propagation, to make ufe of his 
power, when king, to re-eftablifh that religion in Eng- 
land. And the preface fets-forth the conformity of his 
conduct four years after, when he had fucceeded peace- 
ably to the crown, (and was pofTefled of the full power, 
and more than the full power, juftly belonging to it), 
to the apprehenfions entertained of his defigns by the 
eminent Protectant patriots, Sir Henry Capel, Sir Wil- 
liam Jones, and others,who took thelead in thofe debates ; 
that power having been employed by him throughout 
his whole reign in the boldeft and fierceft attempts to 
introduce the Popifh religion into England, and to de- 
ftroy all the civil liberties of the nation. At laft, by his 
violent meafures he forced even the mod zealous fup- 
porters of Monarchy in the kingdom, (who had, ever 
fince the reftoration in 1660, been preaching-up the 
doctrines of paffive obedience and non-refiftance), to 

fufpendj 



469 



fufpend, for a time at lead, their high principles of 
loyalty, and to wifh to fee fome ftop put to the career of 
his tyranny. This general fentiment brought-on an 
invitation from fome few courageous noblemen and 
gentlemen to the Prince of Orange, to come-over to 
England to their affiftance with a fmall army;— not to 
conquer England, but to deliver it from arbitrary power, 
by obliging king James to call a free parliament to 
revive and confirm the extinguished laws and liberties 
of the nation, and the tottering Eftablifhment of the 
Proteftant religion. And the Prince of Orange com- 
plied with this invitation, and was received by the 
greateft part of the nation with great joy and gratitude, 
and confidered as their Saviour and Deliverer. And, 
after fome time, a meeting of the two houfes of Parlia- 
ment was obtained ; but in an irregular manner and 
without the concurrence of king James : he being 
unwilling to authorize their meeting, and to confent to 
thofe acts of parliament which he knew they would 
foon propofe to him for the prefervation of the Proteft- 
ant religion and the civil rights and liberties of the 
people. But no thoughts were entertained by either 
Houfe of Parliament of proceeding againft him as a 
criminal, for his mifgovernment, nor even of depofing 
him, but only of requiring him to confent to fuch 
new regulations as mould be thought necefTary to pre- 
vent him from renewing his late attempts todeftroy the 
Religion and Liberties of the Country. But this he 
would not fubmit to, and rather than do fo, chofe to 
retire into France and put himfelf under the protection 
of king Lewis the 14th, the notorious Perfecutor of his 
own Proteftant fubje&s, and unjuft Invader of Holland 
and the other ftates in the neighbourhood of France, 
and general Difturber of the peace of Europe. This 
3H3 refolution 



4?0 



refolution of abandoning England and retiring into 
France king James attempted twice to execute, and the 
fecond time with fuccefs. And then the two houfes 
of Parliament, confidering this abandonment of his 
country at this critical time as a decifive proof that he 
was determined not to confent to refume the govern- 
ment of the kingdom upon the terms of his coronation- 
oath, or fo as to be bound to govern it according to the 
Laws and Statutes of the kingdom, (upon which 
terms alone he had any right to govern it), did, after 
much deliberation and great debates on the fubjecl:, 
declare that he had thereby abdicated, or relinquifbed, 
the government, and that the throne was confequently 
vacant. And then, after further debates, they proceed- 
ed to fill that vacant place by electing their great Af- 
firmant and Protector in this arduous bufinefs, William, 
Prince of Orange, (who was the nephew of king James, 
and grandfon to king Charles the lft, and likewife 
husband to the Princefs Mary, king James's eidefl: 
daughter), and the Princefs Mary his wife, to be 
jointly King and Queen of England, in his ftead. And 
from the long debates on thefe two refolutions, and the 
fmall majorities of only two or three votes, by which 
they were carried, it feems next to certain that, if king 
James had chofen to continue in England and to confent 
to tuch new regulations as the parliament would have 
thought fnfncient for the fecurity of the Proteftant reli- 
gion and the civil rights and liberties of the nation 
again ft any future attempts of the Crown to overturn 
them, he would have been permitted to continue on 
the Throne. It was therefore king James's Obftinacy 
alone, and not the Ambition of the Prince of Orange, 
(as his enemies have often pretended), that brought- 
about the change, of the Sovereign of England on this 

occafion? 



47 1 



occafion, and gave us the wife and valiant William* 
Prince of Orange, i v who had already diftinguifhed him- 
felfastheDeliVererofhis own country, Holland, fromthe 
unjuft invafion of Lewis the 14th in the year 167a, 
and who had now delivered England from the dangers 
of Popery and Slavery in which king James had involv- 
ed her), for our King, inftead of the bigotted and 
arbitrary James, who had nearly compleated the ruin 
of our Religion and Liberty. 
This Preface is as follows. 



THE PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION OF THE 
" DEBATES IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS IN OCTO- 
BER, 168O, ON THE BILL FOR EXCLUDING JAMES, 
DUKE OF YORK, THE BROTHER OF KING CHARLES 
THE SECOND, FROM THE SUCCESSION TO THE 
CROWN OF ENGLAND, " PUBLISHED AT LONDON 
IN JULY, 1807. 

The Debates of the Englifh Houfe of Commons, 
which are here re-printed, took place in the Parlia- 
ment which met on the 26th of October, 1680, and 
was Diflblved by the King's Proclamation, on the 18th 
of the foHowing month of January, in the year 1680-T. 
They relate principally to the Bill propofed in that 
Parliament for excluding James, Duke of York> the 
only brother of King Charles the Second, from his 
right of fucceeding to the Crown of England, in the 
event (which was then very probable,) of the King's 
dying without lawful Iflue. And the ground of this 
% h 4 important 



m 



important motion, was, "that the faid Duke, by aban- 
(C cloning the Proteftant Religion, and embracing that 
6i of the Church of Rome, had rendered himfelf unfit 
?i to difcharge the great Duties of the Office of a King 
" of England, in maintaining the Proteftant Religion, 
6( (which had been eftablifhed in the Kingdom in the 
C6 Reign of Queen Elizabeth,) and in defending the 
<c temporal Liberties and Privileges of the Subjects of 
5C the Crown againft: the Encroachments and Ufurpa- 
" tions of the Papal Authority." This Bill was 
fupported with great zeal and ability by feveral of the 
moft eminent Patriots and Lawyers of that time, and 
particularly by that virtuous and much-refpecled Noble- 
man, William Lord Ruflell, (the eldeft fon of the then 
Earl of Bedford,) and Sir Henry Capel, and Colonel 
Silas Titus, Sir Francis Wilmington, and Sir William 
Jones ; who considered it as the only effedual remedy 
that could be provided for the Protection of the Pro- 
teftant Eftablifhment, againft the attempts which, they 
expected, would he made to deftroy it by the Duke of 
York, if ever he fucceeded to the Crown ; his zeal for 
diftinguifbing himfelf in the propagation of the new 
Religion which he had embraced, and his Ambition to 
be celebrated in the Annals of the Church of Rome, as 
one of her greateft Champions, and the Deftroy er of the 
festilent Northern Heresy, (as the Romifh Priefts 
denominated the Reformation) which had, for more 
than a Century past, over spread the Briti/h Dominions, 
having been, on various occalions, fufficiently made 
known to them. And they obferved, that, if he were 
once admitted to the Throne, and acknowledged to be 
the lawful King of England, and confequently to be the 
Head of the Army, and of the Navy, and of the Militia 
of England, and Mafter of the Revenue of the Crown, 

it 



473 



it would be extreamly dangerous and difficult to refift 
any attempts that he mould make for carrying his 
deflgns againft the Proteftant Religion into execution ; 
and therefore they concluded, that it was abfolutely 
neceffary, before that event took place, and while it was 
yet in their power, (if the King would gracioufly concur 
with them in the Meafure,; to exclude him from the 
Succeffion to the Crown. The King, unfortunately, 
would not concur in this falutary and necefTary Mea- 
fure : and the Duke of York fucceeded to the Crown, 
in February, 1684-5, four years after thefe Debates. 
And then the apprehenfions, which thefe wife Patriots 
had entertained of the projects which the Duke was 
fuppofed to have formed againft the Religion and 
Liberties of his Country, were fully juftifled by his 
furious endeavours to over- turn the whole Conilitution 
of the government both in Church and State. And, 
if the Valour and Wifdom of the Prince of Orange, 
(who was nearly related to the Crown, being both a 
Nephew of King James, and the Hufband of his eldefl 
Daughter,) had not been exerted in defence of the Reli- 
gion and Liberty of England, by his landing there with 
a fmali Army, of about 13,000 Men, not to conquer 
England, or to place himfelf on the Throne inftead of 
his Father-in-law, (as fome of his Enemies falfely and 
malicioufly pretended,) but merely to enable the Peo« 
pie of England to chufe Reprefentatives and fend them 
to meet together in a Convention, or Parliament, and 
there redrefs, in the manner they themfelves mould 
think proper, without any conftraint from him, the 
enormous grievances they laboured-under, from the 
King's arbitrary Government ; — I fay, if it had not been 
for this timely interference of the Prince of Orange, it 
feems by no means improbable, that the King might 

have 



474 



have fucceeded in his endeavours to re-eftablifh the 
Popifh Religion in England, and to change the limit- 
ed and Parliamentary Monarchy of England into an 
abfolute Monarchy, upon the Model of that of France 
at that time, under Lewis the 14th, of which he was a 
great admirer. The Nation, however, efcaped from 
this alarming Situation, by this noble effort of the 
Prince of Orange, and by the Prudence and Modera- 
tion of the Convention, or Parliament, which he 
affembled. And their Deliberations on this Occafion, 
for re-fettling the Government, were fortunately much 
facilitated by King James's voluntary departure from 
England, after he had begun to treat with the Prince 
of Orange i which could not, with any (hew of Reafon, 
be afcribed to any apprehenfion of Danger to his Per- 
fon, (which neither the Prince of Orange, nor the 
Parliament, hadthe leaft thoughts of molefting,) but 
feems manifeflly to have arifen from a fettled Refolu- 
tion not to confent to fuch new Regulations, as would 
probably have been propofed to him, with a view to 
prevent his renewing his late Attempts againft the 
Laws and Religion of his Country. To a Refloration 
to his Throne upon fuch Conditions, he feems to have 
been determined not to fubmit 5 and therefore he 
retreated into France, under the Protection of that 
Arbitrary and Persecuting Monarch, Lewis the 14th, 
by whofe affiftance he hoped to recover the PofTeffion 
of his former Arbitrary Power, by the help of a French 
Army ; and he, accordingly, afterwards, made an 
attempt of that kind in Ireland, by means of fuch an 
Army. His departure, however, from England, at this 
juncture, was a fortunate Circumftance for the Conven- 
tion, or Parliament, which the Prince of Orange had 
affembled 5 as it gave them a fair Opportunity of con- 

{Jdering 



475 

fidering the Throne as being vacant by the Voluntary 
Abandonment of it by the King, which was a proof 
that he was not willing to Exercife the Office of King 
upon the Terms of his Coronation-Oath, and according 
to the Laws and Eftablifbed Conftitution of the King- 
dom. Therefore, without having recourse to the 
delicate and controverted Doctrine of the Right of an 
Oppreffed People, to dethrone, or depofe, their Kings, 
or other Governours, for Mif-government ; they, con- 
fidering the Throne as Vacant, proceeded to repair that 
Im perfection, or Defect, in the Governing Powers of 
the State, by Electing the Prince and Princefs of 
Orange to be King and Queen of England, in lien of 
the King who had deferted them ; and then proceeded 
without delay, to re-fettle the whole Government of 
the Kingdom upon its old Foundations, with a very 
few Corrections or Alterations, which their Experience 
had fhewn them to be Necefiary. 

This deliverance of the Englifh nation, from the 
tyranny of King James the Second, and new Settle- 
ment of the Government, under King William and 
Oueen Mary, is generally called the Revolution, But 
it might, perhaps, with more propriety, have been 
called the Vreservation, or Re-establishment of the 
Government of England, as it had fubfifted in the 
Reign of King Charles the Second, and particularly in 
the year lG8o, when thefe Debates took place, and 
before that King had difmifled his laft Parliament at 
Oxford, on the 28th of March, 1^81 ; for, after that 
event, he governed, during the remaining four years of 
his Reign, with a fort of Legal Tyranny, or abufe of 
the Legal Powers with which the Conftitution had 
inverted him ; employing his Court of King's-Bench* 
(as his father had employed the Court of Star-Cham- 

ber,) 



476 



ber,) to perfecute his Subjects under tbe forms of 
Law j by taking-away the Charter of the City of 
London; and procuring the Surrenders of the Char- 
ters of feveral other Corporations that fent Members 
to Parliament^ and thereby making the Elections of 
Members of Parliament lefs free and popular than 
before ; and by over-fevere Punifhments, enormous 
Fines, and Verdicts for exceffive damages, given in 
civil actions by corrupt Juries, packed by the Sheriffs 
for the purpofe. But in the year 1680, before thefe 
odious proceedings took place, the Laws and Constitu- 
tion of the Government of England were very little dif- 
ferent from what they were afterwards in the years 
I689 and 1690, or the firft and fecond years of King 
William's reign. So wifely and moderately did King 
William and his firft Parliament proceed in the fettle- 
ment of the Nation, without introducing any new, or 
theoretical, improvements of the Government, or any 
changes in the powers of the feveral Judicatories and 
Orders in the State. The principal Law which the 
Parliament paffed on this occafion, and to which they 
required the aflent of the Prince and Princefs of Orange 
before they elected them to be King and Queen of 
England, (in lieu of the King, who had quitted the 
Government, and retired to France,) is called the Billy 
or Declaration of Rights*, and contains only a recital 
of feveral of the illegal Acts done by King James, and 
the illegal Powers affumed by him, accompanied with 
a declaration of their illegality, together with a fettle- 
ment of the Crown, after the Deceafe of the Prince 
and Princefs of Orange, on the Heirs of the Body of 
the faid Princefs ; and, in default of fuch heirs, on the 
Princefs Anne, of Denmark, (the fecond daughter of 
King James,) and the Heirs of her Body ; and, in default 

of 



47? 



of fucb Heirs, on the Heirs of the Body of the Prince 
of Orange, or King William, by any future wife ; and, 
laftly, a provifion that none of the perfons fo appointed 
tofucceed to the Crown, nor any other perfon whatfoever, 
mould be capable of fuch Succeffion, if they either 
were themfelves Papifts, or were married to a Papift, 
C( it having been found by Eooperience, that it is incon- 
tc sis tent with the Safety and Welfare of this Protest- 
i( ant Kingdom, to he governed by a Popish Prince, or 
" ly any King or ^ueen, marrying a Papist" And, 
in general, the Maxims and Opinions fan&ioned and 
confirmed by this Parliament on this great and folemn 
Occafion, were the fame that had been profefTed and 
laid-down by the Leading Members of the Houfe of 
Commons in the year 1680, who contended for the 
Exclufion of the Duke of York from the Succeffion to 
the Crown, and which are set forth in the Debates 
that are here reprinted. 

Thefe Debates were firfb publifhed in the year 168], 
in a fmall duodecimo volume ; and they were after- 
wards publifhed a fecond rime in octavo, with the 
addition of the Debates of the following fhort Parliament 
holden at Oxford, in the following month of March, 
1680-8 1, which related chiefly to the fame fubject of 
excluding the Duke of York from the fucceffion to the 
Crown. 

This fecond edition of thefe Debates was publifhed 
in the year 1716, or the fecond year of King George 
the Firft, while there was a Rebellion in the North of 
England, againft that wife and worthy Monarch, in 
favour of the Popifh Pretender to his Crown, the 
fuppofed Son of King James the Second. It does not 
appear who was the Publifher of this Second Edition 
of thefe Debates. £ut it is plain that he was an ap- 
prover 



478 

prover of the Principles and Opinions maintained in 
thefe Debates, and a zealous Defender of the Entail of 
the Crown, which had been made by a fecond Act of 
Settlement near the end of King William's reign, on 
the Proteftant family of the Dukes of Hanover, and 
that he publifhed thefe Debates a fecond time in that 
critical feafon, with a view to fupport the right of King 
George to the Crown, (which was derived from that 
fecond Act of Settlement,) againft the claim of the 
Pretender, by again prefenting to the view of the Pub- 
lick, the excellent arguments that had been ufed in 
favour of a flmilar Provifion for the maintenance of the 
Proteftant Religion, and the Rights and Liberties of the 
Subject, in that celebrated and courageous Parliament 
of 1680. And thefe fentiments he has expreffed very 
fully in a fpirited and inftru&ive Introduction. 

And now, in the year 1807, when a great number 
ofperfons of high rank and large fortunes, and even 
of diftinguifhed abilities, and who particularly afTume 
to themfelves the name of Whigs, have fo far departed 
from the fentiments of Lord Rujfell, and Sir Henry 
Capel, and Sir William Jones, and the other Whigs of 
the year l68o, as to look- upon Popery as a very inof- 
fenfive fort of Religion, from which no danger ought 
to be apprehended by Proteftants, and to think that 
Members of the Church of Rome ought therefore, not 
only to be freely tolerated in the exercife of their Reli- 
gion, however idolatrous, (which toleration very few 
Proteftants, at this day, are inclined to refufe them), 
but alfo to be admitted, equally with Proteftants, to all 
forts of Offices of Power in the State, both Civil and 
Military, fo that the Judges of the King's Courts of 
Law in Weftminfter-hall, and the Lords Chancellors of 
of England and Ireland might be Papifts, and even 

that 



479 



that an Army of Irifh Papifts, commanded by a Popim 
General, (which was the Inftrument with which King 
James the Second endeavoured to over-turn the whole 
Conftitution of England both in Church and State,) 
should be no longer contrary to law; — it feems highly 
expedient that thefe excellent Debates mould be again 
brought-forward to the View of the Publick ; to the 
end that the Members of both Houfes of Parliament 
may well conlider them, before they give their affent 
to a meafure that is fo contrary to the Principles on 
which the Revolution in the Year 1688, and the De- 
claration of Rights then folemnly proclaimed by Par- 
liament, and the Act of Settlement then made in 
favour of the Prince and Princefs of Orange, and the 
fecond Act of Settlement of the Crown (made about 
ten years after,) on the Princefs Sophia, Dutchefs 
dowager of Hanover, and the Heirs of her Body, (by 
virtue of which Act our prefent Sovereign fits upon 
the Throne) were, all, founded, — and before they, in 
confequence of fuch affent, follicit his Majefty, (not- 
withftanding his known difmclination to the Meafure,) 
to give his Royal Affent to an Act, that feems, at leaft, 
to have a ftrong tendency to undermine and weaken 
his Majefty's Title to the Crown. And it is toanfwer 
this ufeful purpofe, that thefe Debates are here again 
re-printed from the faid Second Edition of them, in 
the yeari7i6, together with the Introduction of the 
Publifher of that Edition. 



THE 



480 



THE INTRODUCTION TO THE SECOND EDITION OP 
THE SAID DEBATES LN THE YEAR 1716. 



So wide has the Deviation of the prefent Age been 
from the glorious Paths of their Anceftors; — fo violent 
a Propenfion has appeared in too many, who have 
made an open Profeffion of the Protectant Religion, to- 
wards reviving the abject and exploded Doctrine of 
implicit Obedience, and falling-back into the rankeft 
Superftition and Idolatry ; that Fopery has broke-in 
like a Torrent, and all that we have been able to do, 
for fome Years paft, has been juft to carry-on adefen- 
live War againft it, whilft the Balance at prefent is 
but barely inclining to the Proteftant Side. Such has 
been the powerful Magick of the i?o??jaft ErrufTaries ; fo 
ftrong has the Operation of their Poyfon been upon the 
Senfes of this poor, deluded, Nation, that we have been 
driving-on an open Commerce with Rome, bartering 
our Eafe and Plenty for Want and Barrennefs, and the 
very Dregs of human Oppreffion; our Birth-rights, for 
the imperious Dictates of lawlefs Tyrants; and the 
mildeft Laws in the Univerfe, for .the moft infupportable 
Slavery, (which is Spiritual,) without giving ourfelves 
Time to caft-up the Account, and examine whatLofTes 
we were likely to fuftain by fo unequal an Exchange. 

That Rome, and her officious Agents, have been in- 
ceflantly at Work for our Deftru&ion, is no Wonder, 
when we confider ourfelves as the nation that enjoys 
the boafted Remains of Liberty, and pure Religion, 

throughout 



481 



throughout Europe, and as forming the main Bulwark 
againft arbitrary Encroachments. But that we, who 
profefs an abhorrence of thofe Principles, mould give 
an helping Hand to our Ruin, and be in the Plot againft 
our own Faith, our Property, and Lives, Teems as 
difficult to reconcile as the Doctrine of ' Tranfubft 'antia- 
tion. Yet, to our eternal Difhonour, fuch there are at 
prefent amongfl us, who have advanced half- Way to 
meet them ; nay, to (how their Sincerity, and cut-off 
all manner of Ceremony, have gone-over to them. 

This Delufion, which has been fo univerfally fpread 
through all Ranks and Complexions, calls loudly at this 
Juncture for the Publication of the following Sheets. 
It had been a Crime fcarceexpiable, not to have refcued 
them from Oblivion, and give them a frefh Reading; 
cfpecially at a Time, when a Set of profligate Wretches, 
who have the Impudence to call themfelves Proteftants, 
are in ftrict Combination with the fworn Enemies of 
our Religion, to place a Popijb Impoftor on the Throne 
of King GEORGE, to make this Free-born Nation a 
Land of Bondage, and our Fertile Plains a Scene of 
Blood and Confufion. 

Apprehenfions of the like Danger from a Vopijb Sue-* 
ceflbr, infpired our great Forefathers with lively Senti- 
ments of the Kingdom's Danger, and with Refolutions 
becoming that great Truft repofed in them by their 
Principals* They faw a Popi/h Plot carried-on againft 
our Liberties and Religion, under the A dminift ration 
of a Proteftant Prince ; though not juftified by open 
Arms, or profecuted in that audacious Manner it is at 
prefent. They found there were too many of the fame 
Stamp with the Rebels of this Day, affettedly ProtefU 
ants, who ftrove induftrioufly to smother it, and under- 
hand abetted the Treafon. The Dav at that meian- 
2 1 choly 



482 



cboly Seafon, was favourable to Roman Monsters; they 
had their Partizans in the Senate- House; the Cabinet, 
and the Pulpit; and too many upon a certain Bench, 
who ought to have been the moil vigorous Affertors of 
the Reformation, lay as a dead Weight upon the Houfe. 
The Oppofition thofe worthy Patriots met-with, no 
Ways impaired their Spirit ; they broke through all 
Difcouragement, and went to the Roptof the Griev- 
ance. 

The fole Expedient for preventing all future Calami- 
ties, was the Excluiion of the Duke of York ; a Bill 
which had a preditlive Spirit in it; a Bill not Spirited- 
up by Revenge, or Partiality to a certain Family, as was 
odioufly infmuated, to divide the wicked caufe from the 
Perfon ; but from the fatal~and neceffary Confequences 
which muft attend a Popjh Adminiftration ; a Bill 
which, if it had paffed, would have faved this infatuat- 
ed Kingdom an Hundred and Thirty Millions, and 
extinguished even our remoter!; Fears of Popery, 

But the Genius of France, and her devoted Penfioners 

got the better of Britain's faithful Sons From the 

Difficulties our wife Anceftors faw there was in carry- 
ing a Point of that Importance under a Proteftant 
Prince, it was natural to conclude, how great the 
Struggle muft be, even to make a Stand, under a Popifh 
one. Their Penetration went deeper ; they knew, that 
Will and Pleafure was to fucceed in the room of Laws 
and inviolable Statutes ; and that Freedom, Property, 
and Religion, muft bend to the Roman Yoke, if once 
a Papift came to be the Director. Thofe who oppofed 
the Bill, could not deny the fawcy Advances of 
Popery, and feemed hearty in coming into any Expedi- 
ent, but that of the Exclufion. But; their Schemes 
were fo fantaftick, that it was obvious to the dimmeft 

Sight, 



483 



Sight, they were rather preferred with a view to amuse 
and perplex than to give any A durance to the honeft 
Patriots, that their Fears were not well-grounded, or 
that any Medium could be found-out between the Bill 
of Exclufion and their own Security. On this Occafion, 
I cannot help making two Remarks, which flow-in 
naturally) and may ferve as a Glafs to (hew the Com- 
plexion of thofe Times, with that of the Breviat 
Proteftants of ours. 

It was objected, That if the Bill of Exclufion fhould 
pafs into a Law, there would be found Men at Hand 
ready to oppofe that Parliamentary Sanction, in Defence 
of the Lineal Defcent, tho' the frequent Ufage of the 
Nation had juftifled it, aud an exprefs Statute now in, 
Force, made in the 13th of Queen Elizabeth^ which 
makes it High Treafon to make a Queftion, Whether 
an A3 of Parliament cannot bind the Right of the 
Crown, the Descent, Limitation) Inheritance, or 
Government thereof. This Objection, I think, fuffici- 
ently explains the Principles of our half-faced Proteft- 
ants at this Day, and pretty well accounts for the late 
Tumults, and prefent Rebellion of the Faction, and 
muft convince us, that there is not one of that Stamp 
in King GEORGE's Intereft, but ftaunch at this 
Hour for what they ridiculoufly call Hereditary 
Right. 

The other Objection was : What Ff the Duke of 
York {hould have a Son ? This, they thought, would 
invalidate the Entail upon his Daughters. By this 
Clue, I think, we are led into the Secret of an After- 
ftory, and the Apprehenfion thofe Popifh Inftruments 
had of a Proteftant SuccefTor; fo that one would be 
tempted to think there were fome other People, befides 
Catholicks, deep in the fecret of vamping-up an 
2 i 2 .Imjjoftor; 



481- 

fmpoftor ; and that a Son was to have been procured 
at any Rate, though Ten of them had died fucceffively 
in the Month. But to draw-off from fo obvious a 
Reflection : In thefe Debates you have the collected 
Senfe of the Nation, warmly urged by the Electors to 
their Reprefentatives throughout the Kingdom, who 
were fenfible no Cords could bind a PapiJI, but thofe 
of Death, or Banifhrnent. In thefe Sheets, you have 
a lively Pourtrait of a true Englifh Protectant Spirit. 
Here thofe who have been fo unhappy as to degenerate 
from the bright Examples of their Anceftors, may learn 
to amend, or turn pale to fee the Ames of their Sires 
animated, fpeaking to them, as it were from the Grave, 
and calling the Prodigals to return to the Bofom of 
their Country's Xntereft. In thefe Speeches you read 
a difmterefted Zeal, triumphing over Sophiftry, and 
falfe Reafoning ; a Set of Patriots embodied againfl 
mercenary Tongues, Creatures of an arbitrary and 
debauched Court, and Stipendiaries of France and 
Rome. For this glorious Caufe the great Lord Ruffell 
fell, purfued by execrable Villains, and unfa ted Malice; 
a Drop of whofe Blood was more valuable than the 
whole Race of Tyrants, from theExpuKion ofTarquin, 
to the LAST ABDICATION. 

But in recording the Glories of 1680, wemuft not 
forget what we owe to the prefent Parliament of 1715. 
The Curfe which thofe Patriots would have prevented, 
has been growing upon the Nation for 35 Years, 
excepting the Check it received in the immortal WIL- 
LIAM'S Reign, and the Firft Seven Years of Queen 
ANN's •, and has, by frequent Indulgences, arrived to 
that Height, as to difpute the Superiority with us; the 
Extinction of this peftilent Spirit is left upon the 
Hands of the prefent Senate. To clear the Rubbifh, 

which 



:»fl 



which had been gathering for fo many Years, was 
next to an Herculean Labour ; but to crufn the Mon- 
fler, would have been next to an Impoffibility, under a 
lefs aufpicious Influence than that of King GEORGE. 
The Papijisy and their bloody Adherents, found the 
Period of their laboured Attempts againft the Con- 
flitution dra wing-on, when the Nation fpoke its free 
Senfe in this Parliament ; and they are now making 
the laft Difcharge of their Malice, in Rebellion and 
Defpair. 

Let obftinate and unthinking Wretches charge that 
glorious Parliament, with antimonarchical and hete- 
rodox Principles; but they need be at no more Pains 
than fcanning the Names, and they will find thofe 
Patriots were fo far from being fufpe6led of pronenefs 
to Levelling, that fomeof them before that Time were 
efteemed to be even of a high, fanguine. Complexion. 
The fame impudent Charge may, it's poflible, be object- 
ed to the prefent illuftrious Body, by thofe who know 
not thatfeveral Acts have paffcd which make it impoffi- 
ble for any, but a Proteftant Church of England 
Member, to fit within thofe venerable Walls. 

If the Parliament of 1 680 could boaft of their RUS- 
SELS, their CAVENDISHES, their CAPELS, their 
BOOTHS, their W1NNLNGTONS, and JONESES, 
a long Train of Heroes; The Champions of 1715 
muft not yield to them in Firmnefs, or Love to their 
Country: The Conftancy of a Regulus, the Piety of a 
Codrus, and the Wifdom of a Lya/rgus, are at this 
Time to be found in a WALPOLE; the nnbiafled 
Patriot, and the polite Gentleman, fhine forth in a 
FINCH, who is at prefent The Ornament of the 
Lower-Houfe, and the growing Hopes of the Upper. 
In a STANHOPE, we read an Ardor for Liberty, and 
2 i 3 the 



486 



the ? publ'ck Good; the LETCHMERES, and the 
COWPERS, havea thoufand Witneffes to iheir prevail- 
ing Eloquence in their Country's Caufe, and their 
triumphs over the Enemies of the Conftitution. Thus 
guarded. Popery and Arbitrary Power mud refign the 
Day. 

But here a Gueftion naturally advances upon us, 
Why Popery, (which was in good Earneft abolifhed by 
Edward the Ylth, of pious Memory ; and in the 
natural Tendency of that Reformation under fo many 
Proteftant Princes, his SuccetTors, fhould, by this Time, 
have dwindled into the laft Degree of Contempt,) has 
been gaining Ground upon us ever finee his Death 
under various Shapes and Difguifes, till at laft it has 
got Strength enough to bid us Defiance. This has 
been a perplexing Queftion to the Generality, and the 
Caufe could not have been made fo obvious to feverai 
well-meaning Proteftants, till a Set of People, joining 
in the prefent Rebellion, and who walked-about under 
Difguifes for many Years, have at length gratified the 
World, in throwing-ofT the Mafque, and telling us 
plainly what they have been aiming-at, in Conjunction 
with our implacable Enemies, the Papijis. 

It is not to be imagined, that Popery could have fub- 
iifted in thefe Realms thus long, much lefs have found fo 
fecure a Refuge from the Purfuit of the Law, after fuch 
flagrant Violations of all Things Sacred, Moral, and 
Humane, if there had not been fome fecret Springs 
working behind the Curtain in her Favour; and Con- 
federates of a more popular Stamp, had not been copy- 
ing Draughts from the Roman Emiflaries, to make her 
Villanies appear more fpecious to the World. Thefe 
Plagues of Families, of Kingdoms, and Mankind, I 
fay, had, e're this Time, been rooted out of the Land, 

had 



487 



had not fome Advocates in Power, and who feemed 
the very Reverfe of them in Principle, kept the Hand 
ofJuftice in a Sling, and blunted the Antipathy of 
P rote fl ants again ft them. 

The Pafifts, confidered as a diftinct Body, and un- 
affifted, could never have grown-up to any formidable 
Height; Had there not been an Union of Intereft and 
Affection between them, and a powerful Body acting 
under legal Capacities, they would have been reputed of 
no more Weight, than fo many w-andering Jews, or 
fcattered Gentiles, amongft us : But Impunity and Con- 
nivance, accompanied with a Fondnefs they obferved 
in fome falfe Brethren of the Proteftant Church of 
England, toward a Relapfe into blind Superftition, and 
ilavifh principles, foon encouraged them to put- in 
their Claim, and think themfelves interefted in promot- 
ing thofe Schemes which made fuch near Approaches 
to genuine Poperij. 

By what Engines we were driven, and haftening to 
our Ruin, was long forefeen in the early Days of the 
Reformation, and guarded- againft to the utmoft, by 
the greateft Patriots, and the mod faithful Sons of the 
Proteftant Church. But fuch was the Infatuation of 
many, from miftaken and too pompous Notions of 
Regal and Ecclefiaftical Power : fuch the afpiring Tem- 
per of others, who knew better, but would bear no 
Controul, or even admit the Laiety to a Share in the 
ruling Part; that we have, more than an Age, been 
waging a Proteftant War amongft ourfelves, whilft that 
Monfter, Popery^ has fattened upon our Diflenfions, 
and, by this unnatural Conteft, paved the Way almoft 
to an Eftablithment. 

From whence thefe tender Sentiments in profeffed 

Churchmen, toward fuch impious Principles 3 from 

2 1 4 whence 



4S8 



whence that conftant and moll favourable Regard to 
T ch inhuman Creatures, fprung ; — muft be the Subject 
of a fk>rt Enquiry, that we may open a Way to the 
Sources of our paft Misfortunes, that we fee both the 
rampant and couehant Popery : and we (hall find at the 
Up-fhot, that the latter has been the mod dangerous 
Enemy - 5 that the lefs-fufpicious Seconds have done all 
the filthy Work for their Principals the Fapifts, under 
the plaufible Names of a rigorous Uniformity to Cere- 
monial Rites, and absolute, pajjive, Submijjlon to the 
Prerogative, whilft the more formidable Names of Pope- 
ry and Slavery were kept behind the Scenes, till a 
fui table Occafion prefented, of joining-together in the 
laft Act of our Miferies, and making-up the fad Cata- 
strophe in Concert. 

To have a full View of this Growth of Pcpery, we 
muft obferve, that the Reformation was but te.ideily 
begun, accompanied with the Diffblution of Abbics, 
Monafteries, and many other fuch Nefts of Lazinefs 
and Vermin, and Creatures unprofitable to the Com- 
monwealth. This was hardly digefted by the fawcy and 
high-fed Priefts of that Time : but falling under the 
Iron hand and inexorable Temper of Henry VIII. and 
running themfelves likewife into a Vremunire, by 
difputins; his Supremacy, they were compelled to pur- 
chafe their Peace at any rate, and tamely fubmit to his 
Temporal Alienations. 

This Breach upon their unjuft Acquifitions ftomach- 
ed them to the laft degree. But finding under Edward 
VI. that there was not only a further Retrenchment 
of their pious Frauds but likewife other Spiritual 
Excrescencies par'd-off, they began to be thoroughly 
stfa m'd; and, though many complied with the reform'd 
Bebpon in Show, yet they could not quit their tender 

Regard 



489 



Regard for the unrighteous Mammon, which they faw 
every Day applied to more laudable Purpofes. 

To pafs over the Reign of Blood-thirfty Mary, when 
they expecled a full Reftitution of Church-lands; find- 
ing that Queen Elizabeth went on polling the Bishop- 
ricks, and giving- away feveral fat Manors to her ufeful 
Subjects of the Laiety ; they unanimoufly caft-about 
how to flop the Current of thofe Alienations ; and, 
roaring-out Sacrilege and the Church-Robberies of her 
Miniftry, began to perfwade her that there was a De- 
fign of ruining the Church by fome ill-defigning Men, 
and Enemies to Religion; and branded thofe who were 
more intent upon the Reformation than worldly Gain, 
with the Title of Puritans; which at that Time was 
made to flgnify Schifinaticks in Religion, and Rebels 
to the State. This Cry, aflified by Archbifhop Whit- 
gift, affecting the Queen, diverted her from laying her 
Hands upon any more Church-Revenues, and turned 
her Fury upon the Puritans. 

Great Numbers of the reformed Clergy at that Junc- 
ture were no better than Papifts in Difguife, and find- 
ing a Gap open for Perfeculion, they followed the 
Swing of their Revenge and Ambitious Tempers ; 
and, becaufe they could not return to their beloved 
Popery, in bar to the Laws and Statutes then in force, 
they were refolved, under the Notion of Uniformity, to 
obftrucl: any further Reformation, and plague thofe 
who attempted it. 

The Bent of their Inclination ftill led them to Popery ; 
and they were juft upon the Point of rolling-back into 
Idolatry and Pagan Ufurpations at the clofe of Queen 
Elizabeth's Reign; if the Powder- plot, in the begin- 
ning of King James's, had not overthrown their Scheme, 
and made all Overtures of that kind fo detettable, that 

they 



490 

they durft not try the Experiment without expofing 
themfelves to the Nation's Refentments. 

This Project failing, the Popifhly-afFected Clergy, 
which were of the fame Stamp with thofe who pafs 
under the Name of High-Church at this Day, were 
forced to throw themfelves upon the Crown, though 
much again ft their Will. But to (hew there was a fort 
of Co-ordination of Power between the Prince and 
the Clergy, they began to inlinuate a certain Phrafe of 
Speech, and make it a Proverbial Saying, No Bishop, 
No King; putting the Church foremoft > to make 
themfelves appear abfolutely neceffary ; and prefled 
their refpe&ive Claims with a fort of Regal Authority, 
whenever any mould attempt to difpute them. King 
James was fond of the Notion ; and the too credulous 
Charles was entirely taken into the Secret, till the 
Name of the Popifh Ufurpations and Englj/h Church- 
government began to found very agreeably, and the 
Breach was widening between the Clergy, who were 
above the Law of the Land, and the painful Minifters, 
who were under the Law ; till at laft that Incendiary, 
Laud, made a diftin&ion in his Roll of Promotions, 
between thofe marked with the letter O, and P : The 
former (ignifying Orthodox, videlicet, PopiuMy-afFecled; 
The other, Puritans, or Proteftant Church -of-England 
Men. Let none cavil at thefe Animadverfions, when 
the great Lord Falkland, one of the brighten 1 Orna- 
ments of the Reformation, and who dy'd for the Royal 
Caufe at the Battle of Newbery, charges worfe Crimes 
on the Popiih Chuxch-oi-England Clergy of that Day, 
in the Parliament of Forty -one. 
landVOe^ "ThefeMen,fayshe,havebeen theDeftru&ionof Uni- 
scription of ty un( ] er pretence of Uniformity ; and havebrought-in 

the English - . ' J ° 

clergy in Superftition and Scandal, under the Titles of Reverence, 

the year , 

1041. and 



491 



and Decency ; flackening that Union between us and 
thofe of the fame Religion beyond the Seas ; an AcYion 
as Impolitick as ungodly: Thefe Men continues he, 
have been lefs eager againft thofe who damn our 
Church, viz, the Papifts, than thofe who, from a weak 
Conference, have abftained from it. 

After having defcanted largely upon the Ignorance 
and Profanenefs of the Clergy; the tying-up the Pu- 
ritans from preaching fuch and fuch Tenets, and letting 
loofe the Roman Crew ; he obfervcs that the ufual 
Topicks which the Popifh Ch urch -of- England Clergy 
preach'd-on were the divine Right of Bilhops and 
Tyihes, and inviolable Devotion to the Clergy ; the 
Sacrilege of Impropriations; the demolifhmg of Puri- 
tanifm and Propriety; the building of the Prerogative 
at St. Paul's. 

So that it feems they were trying how much of the 
Papift might be brought-in without Popery; and de- 
{troying as much as they could of the Gofpel, without 
bringing themfelves into Danger of being deflroyed 
by the Law. 

Some have evidently laboured to bring-in an Engljb, 
though not a Roman, Popery ; I mean, not only the 
outfide and drefs of it, but equally Abfolute: A blind 
Dependance of the People upon the Clergy, and of the 
Clergy upon themfelves ; and have oppofed the Papacy 
beyond the Sea, that they might fettle a Pope on this 
fide of the Water. 

In the clofe, he talks of their Encroachments upon 
the Civil Power, exempting the Clergy from the Jurif- 
diction of the Civil Magiitrate ; hindering Prohibitions; 
making a Conqueft of the common Law of the Land ; 
difpoiing of all Preferments; and blowing both Na- 
tions into a Flame." 

Was there ever fo lively a Picture of the enormous 

Infolence 



4D2 



Infolence of the Popithly-arTe&ed Clergy in the lad 
Five Years of Queen Anne : Not one Word of the 
Gofpel fimplicity ; Charity, Forbearance, or the leaft 
incentive to Faith or good Works, but all felfifh To- 
picks. The Dignity and Honour of the Priefthood ; 
Reftitution of Church-Lands; Damnation to Diffenters ; 
the moral Sin of Schifm, of their own making •, Paflive 
Obedience, to make us refign without a Blow to Popifti 
Cut-throats; Hereditary and Indefeasible Right, with 
other fuch Terms of Conjuration, to open a way for 
the Pretender. 

The Expediency and Juftice of putting all Lay-Pre- 
ferments and Offices of State into the Clergy's Hands, 
with 'many more prepofterous Doctrines ; which they, 
with a true^ appropriated, Impudence and Ignorance, 
vented to their equally ftnpid Congregations. 

The Popifh Clergy of our Church, and the Roman 
Clergy in Charles II. Days, had, in a manner, fhaken 
Hands; They kept narrowing the Pale of their Com- 
lTiimicn by rigorous Exactions; and, being compli- 
mented with the Privilege of Perfecution, they, in 
return, made-over to the Crown, as much as in them 
lay, an abfolute Paflive Obedience from the Laiety, 
which was a very impudent Deed of Gift, without their 
Confents. This Doctrine was minted to pave the Way 
to Popery in the next Reign ; and would have effec- 
tually done it, had not that weak Prince difobliged 
thofe Executioners, and attempted their Freeholds: 
Then indeed, from a Pique, they joined the Proteftant 
Church- of -England Clergy and her Faithful Sons, to 
free us from the impending DeftrucTion. 

There was a fmall Intermiffion till that ignorant Tool 
Sacbeverell's trayterous Libel was bellow'd from St. 
Paul's, when Popery blaz'd-out afrefh ; as appear'd 
from the Portions of fome of their furious Pulpiteers : 

iji, 



493 



iy? 3 Aflerting the independency of the Church. idly 9 
Their Power of Excommunication, as binding as that 
of the Roman Church. 3dljy, Auricular Confeffion 
made neceffary to Salvation, Vide Br— It's Sermon. 
4/A/y, Abfolution determined in as pofitive a manner as 
that of Rome, 5tbly, A very tender and loofe Diftinc- 
tion between the Real and Corporal Prefence in the 
Sacrament. 6lbly, Judging of Scrupulous Confciences 
by Tells of Malice and Roman Revenge. "Jthly, Re- 
belling, when out of Place and Power. Stbly, Dif- 
penfing with Oaths, or taking them in what Senie they 
pleafe ; with many more of fuch Principles, which are 
either entirely Fopifh, or have a direct Tendency that 
way. 

This Game have the Popifhly- affected Clergy been 
driving-on for a Century and upwards ; perhaps not 
all with an intent to throw themfelves into the Bofom 
of the Roman Communion, but to make themfelves as 
Abfolute, by lodging in the Suburbs of it ; whereas the 
cunning Sophiflers of the Roman Church, who had the 
Management of this part, laugh'd at the fantaftick 
Schemes of our Church-Politicians ; who propofed to 
go fuch determinate Lengths towards Rome, and not 
actually go-in to her ; knowing that a Church of Eng- 
land Abfolute, and above the Law, is a Monfter, and 
not to be tolerated by Proteftants ; and that fhe muft 
either fubmit to the Eftablifhment, or call-in Popery 
and Arbitrary Power in the End, to fupport her. 

This we have lived to fee accompliflied at this Hour; 
and blu(h to find Numbers openly profefling the Pro- 
teftant Faith, lifting under the Banners of Popery, to per- 
fect the Reformation. But this was the natural Tendency 
of fuch impious Doctrines, and an Ambition for Power, 
warranted neither by the Gofpel, nor the Laws of the 

Land. 



494 



Land. Upon thefe Principles, the Treafon, the Perjury, 
and Rebellion of the High Church and their Pupils, 
at this Time, gives no Manner ofSurprife to the think- 
ing part of Mankind. But the Conduct of the profetTd 
Papifts is fomewhat extraordinary. One would think 
that this Caft of Men mould have been very wary in 
engaging in fo defperate an Exploit. The many execra- 
ble Attempts made, not only upon the Constitution, but 
likewife upon the Perfons of our Princes, have long lince 
blotted them out of the Roll of Protection, and calPd 
loudly for Vengeance. The Smithjield Fires of the 
bloody Mary ; the repeated Plots againft Queen Eliza- 
beth; the Spanish Invafion; the Powder-Confpiracy; the 
fufpicious Exit of James I. by Plafter and Potions * ; the 
matchlefs Ingratitude of the Popifh Crew, in the Mur- 
der of Charles IT. who flcreen'd them from Juftice at 
the Expence of his Honour, and his People's Love ; — ■ 
fhould, in the natural Courfe of Revenge, have been 
repaid with a total Extirpation of their Perfons or Prin- 
ciples ; and how at prefent they can hope to efcape the 
Indignation of a Proteftant Parliament, is left to them 
to confider. 

It has been talk'd with Afturance, that there are 
many Constitution Papifts in this Kingdom, who had 
rather live with fome Reflections under our gentle 

* From the evidence on this subject that is distinctly stated 
in Ralph's History of England, it seems highly probable that King 
Charles the Second was poisoned by some Romish Priests, to 
prevent the execution of a design he had formed to recall the 
Duke of Monmouth and receive him again into favour. This 
design the Kinghad communicated to his favourite mistress, the 
Dutchess of Portsmouth, and she had revealed it to her Popish 
Confessor, as the Dutchess declared about ten years after in the 
reign of King William the Third. 

Laws. 



495 

Laws, than fettle irk a foreign Country, even with a 
free Enjoyment of their Religion. But let fuch credu- 
lous Wretches know, that it is as impoflible for a Pa- 
pift to be difinterefted in the Affair of Religion, or cool 
in the Advancement of what they Blafphemoufly call 
the Holy Caufe, as for a Mifer to be eafy in the' fight 
of Gold, without coveting it, or a Glutton to be con- 
tented With a flender Meal, when a Feaft is in view. 

I fliall conclude with one Inftance of their Holy Rage 9 
to fhow the Sentiments of that inhuman Race; and 
that is the Motto, which, Tradition tells us, was imprefs* 
ed on the Catholick Banners, in order to be difplayed, 
if the accurfed Powder-plot had been duly executed by 
thofe Devils Incarnate. 

The Motto, or rather Curfe, runs thus : 

In Nomine Diva Marine ! 

Corruat Ecclefia Angliue Scbifmatica ! 
Per eat, nonjine Pontificis 

Opt. Max, Numine, Jacobus, 

Fidei fubverfor, una cum Stirpe Regid 1 

Deleatur Senatus ! 
Cujufcunque Or dinis Haretici Exterminentur ! 
Refiauretur denique per Cades, per fir 'ages, per 

Ruinas, Romana Fides, vere Apofiolica ! 

In plain Englifh thus : 

Let the Schifmatical, {viz. the Proteftant) Church of 

England, become an Heap of Ruins ! 
Let James, the Subverter of the Faith, together with 

his Royal Iflue, be denroyed by the holy Influence 

and Approbation of the Pope \ 
Let the very Name of Parliaments be blotted-out 1 

Let 



496 



Let Hereticks of all degrees be exterminated! 
And the truely Apoftoiical Romim Religion at length be 
reftored by Bloody by Ruin, and by Devastation ! 

This gives us fo painful an Image of the brutal Cru- 
elty of the Papifts, that a warm Imagination cannot 
well be trufted with proper Animadverfions upon it : 
The naked expreflions carry fo much Horror along 
with them, that they want no Colours to enliven them. 

End of the IntroduB'ion to the Second Edition of the 
Delates on the Exclujion-Bill, puhlifhed in the 
Year 1716. 



497 



AN ACCOUNT OF THE SENTIMENTS OF THE PRINCE 
AND PRINCESS OF ORANGE, CONCERNING THE 
REPEAL OF THE TEST-ACT IN ENGLAND, BY 
WHICH PAPISTS WERE EXCLUDED FROM HOLD- 
ING CIVIL AND MILITARY EMPLOYMENTS; TO 
WHICH REPEAL THEY WERE SOLLICITED BY 
KING JAMES 1L IN THE YEAR 1687, TO GIVE THEIR 
CONSENT. 

$&xtra5led front Bijhop Burnet's History of his Own 
Times , Vol* II. from Page 43 <j to 4,53, 



Th£ King Was every day faying, " that he was King, 
and he would be obeyed, and would make thofe who 
oppofed him feel that he was their King : And he had 
both Priefts and flatterers about him, that were ftill 
puming him forward. All men grew melancholy 
with this fad profpecl:. The hope of the true Protefl- 
ants was in the King's two daughters 5 chiefly on the 
eldeft, who was out of his reach, and was known to be 
well-inftructed, and very zealous in matters of religion. 
The Princefs Anne was ftill very fteadfaft and regular 
in her devotions, and was very exemplary in the courfe 
of her life. But, as care had been taken to put very 
ordinary Divines about her for her Chaplains, fo (lie 
had never purfued any ftudy in thofe points with much 
application. And, all her Court being put about bet- 
by the King and Queen, (he was befet with fpies. It 
was therefore much apprehended, that (lie would be 
flrongly afTaulted, when all other defigns would fo far 
fucceed as to make that feafonable, In the mean while 

% K {he 



498 

The King (he was let-alone by the King, who was indeed a very 
Princes" of 6 kind and indulgent Father to her. Now he refolved to 
Orange m ake his firfl: attack on the Princefs of Orange. D'AU 

about re- ° 

ligion. beville went-over to England in the fummer, and did 
not come-back before the twenty-fourth of December, 
Chriftmas Eve. And then he gave the Princefs a 
letter from the King, bearing date the fourth of Novem- 
ber. He was to carry this letter : And his difpatches 
being put-off longer than was intended, that made this 
letter come fo late to her. 

The King took the rife of his fetter from a queftion 
{lie had put to D'Albeville, defiring to know what were 
the grounds upon which the King himfelf had changed 
his religion. The .King told her, he was bred-up in 
the do&trine of the Chureh of England by Dr. Stewart, 
whom the King, his father, had put about him y in 
which he was fo zealous, that, when he perceived the 
Queen, his Mother, had a defign upon the Duke of 
Gloueefter, tho' he preferved ftill the respect that he 
owed her, yet he took care to prevent it. All the while 
that he was beyond fea, no Catholick, but one Nun, had 
ever fpoken one word to perfuade him to change his re- 
ligion : And he continued for the moll part of that 
time firm to the doctrine of the Church of England. 
He did not then mind thofe matters much : And, as 
all young people are apt to do, he thought it a point of 
honour not to change his religion. The firfl thing, 
that raised scruples in him was, the great devotion that 
he had obferved among Catholicks : He saw they had 
great helps for it: They had their Churches better 
adorned, and did greater acts of charity, than he had 
ever feen among Proteftants. He aiso obferved, that 
many of them changed their courfeof life, and became 
good Chriftians, even tho' they continued to live flili 

in 



499 

in the world. This made him firft begin to examine 
both religions. He could fee nothing in the three 
reigns in which religion was changed in England, to 
incline him to believe that they who did it were fent of 
God. He read the hlftory of that time, as it was writ 
in the Chronicle. He read both Dr. Heylin, and 
Hooker's preface to his Ecclefiaftical Policy, which con- 
firmed him in the same opinion. He faw clearly; that 
Chrift had left an infallibility ih his Church, againft 
which " the gates of Hell cannot prevail :" And it ap- 
peared that this was lodged with St. Peter from our 
Saviour's words to him, St. Mat. xvi. ver. 18. Upofi 
this the certainty of the Scriptures, and even of Chrifti- 
anityitfelf, was founded. The Apoftles acknowledged 
this to be in St. Peter, A£k xt. when they said, ;t It 
feemed good to the Holy Ghoft arid to us." It was 
the Authority of the Church that declared the Scriptures 
to be Canonical: And certainly they who declared 
them could only interpret thetii : And whereever this 
infallibility was, there muft be a clear fuccedion. 
The point of the infallibility being once fettled, all 
dther controverfres muft needs fall. Now the Ro- 
man Church was the only Church that either has" 
infallibility, or that pretended to it. And they who 
threw-off this authority did but open a door to Atheifm 
and Infidelity? and took people off from true devotion, 
and fet even Ghriftianity itfelf loofe to all that would 
queftioft it, and to Socinians and Latitudinarians who 
doubted of every thing. He had difcourfed of thefe 
things with fome Divines of the Church of England ; 
but had received no fatisfaclion from them. The Chrif- 
tian Religion gained its credit by the miracles which 
the Apoftles wrought, and by the holy lives and fuffer- 
jugs of the Martyrs, whofe blood was the feed of the 
2 K % Church. 



500 

Church. Whereas Luther and Calvin, and thofe wh# 
had fet-up the Church of England, had their head* 
fuller of temporal matters than of fpiritual, and had 
let the world loofe to great diforder. SubmiiTion was 
neceffary to the peace of the Church. And, when every 
man will expound the Scriptures, this makes way to 
all feels, who pretended to build upon it. It was alfo 
plain, that the Church of England did not pretend to 
infallibility : Yet (lie acted as if Ihe did : For ever finee> 
the Reformation fhe had perfecuted thofe who differed 
from her, DifTenters as well as Papifts, more than was 
generally known. And he could not fee why Diffent- 
ers might not feparate from the Church of England,, 
as well as (he had done from the Church of Rome* 
Nor could the Church of England feparate herfelf from 
the Catholick Church, any more than a County of 
England could feparate it felf from the reft of the King- 
dom. This, he faid, was all that his Jeifure allowed 
him to write. But he thought that thefe things, 
together with the King his brother's papers, and the 
Dutchefs's papers, might ferve, if not to juflify the. 
Catholick Religion to an unbiafTed judgement, yet at 
leaft to create a favourable opinion of it. 

I read this letter in the original : For the Prince fenfe 
it tome together with the Princefs's anfvver, but with a 
charge not to take a copy of either, but to read them 
over as often as I pleafed; which I did till I had fixed 
both pretty well in my memory. And, as foon as I 
had fent them back, I fat-down immediately to write - 
out all that I remembered ; which the Princefs owned 
to me afterwards, when {he read the abftra&s I made,, 
were punctual almoft to a tittle. It was eafy for me to 
believe that this letter w r as all of the King's enditing; for 
I had heard it almoft in the very same words from his 

own 



£01 

€>wn mouth. The letter was writ very decently, and 
concluded very modeflly. The Prineefs received this 
letter, as was told me, on the twenty-fourth of Decem- 
ber at night. Next day,, being Chriftmas day, (he re- 
ceived the Sacrament, and was during the greateft part 
of the day in publick devotions : Yet fhe found time to 
draw, firft, an anfwer, and then to write it out fair: And 
flie fent it by the poft on the twenty-iixth of December. 
Her draught, which the Prince fent me, was very little 
blotted or altered. It was long, about two (beets of 
paper: For, as an anfwer runs generally out into more 
length than the paper that is to be anfwered, fo the 
(trains of respect, with which her letter was full, drew 
it out to a greater length. 

She began with anfwering another letter that (he Which she 
'«'■-• .11 i o • i • i i rr- i , i answered. 

had received by the poll ; in which the King had made 

an excufe for failing to write the former poft-day. She 
was very fenfible of the happinefs of hearing fo con- 
ftantly from him : For no difference in religion could 
hinder her from defiring both his blefling and his 
prayers, tho* (he was ever fo far from him. As for the 
paper that M. Albeville delivered her, he told her, that 
his Majefty would not be offended, if me wrote her 
thoughts freely to him upon it. 

She hoped, he would not look-on that as want of 
refpe£t in her. She was far from (licking to the reli- 
gion in which ihe was bred out of a point of honour : 
for fhe had taken much pains to be fettled in it upon 
better grounds. Thofe of the Church of England who 
had inftructed her, had freely laid before her that which 
was good in the Romifh Religion, that fo, feeing the 
guod and the bad of both, (lie might judge impartially} 
according to the Apoftle.'s rule of " proving all things, 
and holding faft that which was good." Tho' fhe had 
3 k 3 conic 



5Q:2 

cope young out of England, yet (lie had not left behind 
her either the defire of being well informed, or the means 
for it. She had furnifhed herfelf with books, and had 
thofe about her who might clear any doubts to her. 
She faw clearly in the Scriptures, that {he muft work 
her own falvation with fear and trembling, and that fhe 
muft not believe in the faith of another, but according 
as things appeared to herfelf. It ought to be no pre- 
judice againft the Reformation, if many of thofe who 
profefTed it led ill lives. If any of them lived ill, none 
of the principles of their religion allowed them in it. 
Many of them led good lives, and more might do it by 
the grace of God. But there were many devotions in 
the Church of Rome,, on which the Reformed could 
fet no value. 

She acknowledged, that, if there was an infallibility 
in the Church, all other controversies muft fall to the 
ground. But (lie could never yet be informed where 
that infallibility was lodged : Whether in the Pope 
alone, or in a General Council, or in both. And fhe 
defired to know in whom the Infallibility refted, wherv 
there were tvyo or three Popes at a time, acting one 
againft another, with the afiiftance of Councils, which 
thev called General : And at leaft the fuccefllon was 
then much di [ordered. As for the authority that is 
pretended to have been given to St. Peter over the reft, 
that place which was chiefly alledged for it was other- 
wife interpreted by thofe of the Church of England, as 
importing only the confirmation of him in the cftice of 
an Apoftle, when in anfwer to that quedion, " Simon, 
" fon of Jonas, Ioveft thou me," he had by a triple 
confeffion wafhed-pff his triple denial* The words that 
the King had cited were fpokeri to the other Apoftles 
§s well as to him. It was agreed by all, that the 

Appfiles 



503 



Apoftles were infallible, who were guided by God's 
holy Spirit. But that gift, as well as many others, 
had ceafed long ago. Yet in that St- Peter had no 
authority over the other Apoftles : Otherwife St. Paul 
vmderftood our Saviour's words ill, who " withftood 
<( him to his face, becaufe he was to be blamed." And 
if St. Peter himfelf could not maintain that authority, 
flie could not fee how it could be given to his fucceflors, 
whofe bad lives agreed ill with his doctrine. 

Nor did (lie fee, why the ill ufe that fome made of 
the Scriptures ought to deprive others of them. It is 
true, all feels made ufe of them, and find fomewhat in 
them that they draw-in tofupport their opinions : Yet 
for all this our Saviour faid to the Jews, " fearch the 
Scriptures;" and St. Paul ordered his Epiftles to be 
read to all the Saints in the Churches ; and he fays in 
one place, " I write as to wife men; judge what I fay." 
And, if they might judge an Apoftle, much more any 
other teacher. Under the law of Mofes, the Old 
Teftament was to be read, not only in the hearing of 
the Scribes and the Doctors of the law ; but likewife 
in the hearing of the women and children. And, fince 
God had made u reafonable creatures, it feemed necef- 
fary to employ our reafon chiefly in the matters of the 
greateft concern. Tho' faith was above our reafon, 
yet it propofed nothing to us that was contradictory to 
it. Every one ought to fatisPy himfelf in thefe things : 
As our Saviour convinced Thomas, by making him to 
thruft his own hand into the print of the nails, not 
leaving him to the teftimony of the other Apoftles, 
who were already convinced. She was confident, 
that, if the King would hear many of his own fubjecls,' 
they would fully fatisfy him as to all thofe preju- 
dices, that he had againft the Reformation ; in which 
nothing was acted tumultuoufly, but all was d$fee ; 
3 K 4 according 



50* 



according to law. The defign of it was only, to 
feparate from the Roman Church, in fo far as it had 
feparated from the primitive Church: In which they 
had brought things to as great a degree of perfection, 
as thofe corrupt ages were capable of. She did not 
fee how the Church of England could be blamed for 
the persecution of the DifTenters : For the laws made 
againft them were made by the State, and not by the 
Church : And they were made for crimes againft the 
State. Their enemies had taken great care to foment 
the divifion, in which they had been but too fuccefsful. 
But, if he would reflect on the grounds upon which 
the Church of England had feparated from the Church 
of Rome, he would find them to be of a very different 
nature from thofe, for which the DifTenters had left it. 

Thus, fhe concluded, fhe gave him the trouble of a 
long account of the grounds upon which (he was per«^ 
fwaded of the truth of her religion : In which fhe was 
fo fully fatisfied, that fhe trufted, by the Grace of God, 
that flie (hould fpend the reft of her days in it : And 
fhe was fo well affured of the truth of our Saviour's 
words, that fhe was confident the gates of hell mould 
not prevail againft it, but that he would be with it to 
the end of the world. All ended thus, that the religion 
which flic profefTed taught her her duty to him, fo that 
flie mould ever be his moft obedient daughter and 
fer van t. 

To this the next return of the poft brought an anfwer 
from the King, which I faw not. But the account that 
was fent me of it was: The King took notice of the 
great prcgrefs he faw the Princefs had made in her 
enquiries after thofe matters : The King's bufinefs did 
not allow him the time that wa^ necefiary to enter 
into the detail of her letter : He defired, fhe would 
read thofe books that he had mentioned to her in hi s 

former 



505 

former letrers, and fome others that he intended to fend 
her: And, if (he defired to be more fully fatisfied, he 
propofed to her to difcourfe about them with F. Mor- 
gan, an Englifh Jefuit then at the Hague. 

I have fet down very minutely every particular that Reflections 

• i_ r i , - i c i On these 

was m thole letters, and very near in the lame words, letters, 
It mull be confeffeG, that perfons of this Quality feldom 
enter into fuch a difcuffion. The King's letter con- 
tained a ftudied account of the change of his religion, 
which he had repeated often : And it was, perhaps, 
prepared for him by fome others. There were fome 
things in it, which, if he had made a little more reflec- 
tion on them* it may be fuppofed he would not have 
mentioned. The courfe of his own life was not fo 
Ariel:, as to make it likely that the good lives of fome 
Papifts had made fuch impreffions upon him. The 
eafy abfolutions that are granted in that Church are a 
much jufter prejudice in this refpeel: againft it, than the 
good lives of a few can be fuppofed to be an argument 
for it. The adorning their Churches, was a reflection 
that did no great honour to him that made it. The 
feverities ufed by the Church of England, againft the 
Piflenters, were urged with a very ill grace by one of 
the Church of Rome, that has delighted herfelf fo often 
by being, as it were, bathed with the blood of thofe 
they call hereticks: And, if it had not been for the 
refpeel: that a daughter paid her father, here greater 
advantages might have been taken. I had a high 
opinion of the Princefs's good underftanding, and of 
her knowledge in thofe matters, before I faw this letter: 
But this furprized me-: It gave me an aftonifhing joy, 
to fee fo young a perfon, all on the fudden, without 
confulting any one perfon, to be able to write fo folid 
and learned a letter, in which (he mixed with the 

refpeel: 



506 

refpect that Jhe paid a father fo great a frrmnefs, that 
by it fhe cut-off all further treaty. And her repulfing 
the attack,. that the King made upon her, with fo much 
refolution and force, did let the Popifh party fee, that 
(lie underftood her religion as well as me loved it. 
AprQsecu- But now I mu ft fay foniewhat of myfelf : After I 
against me. na< ^ ftaid a year in Holland, I heard from many hands, 
that the King feemed to forget his own greatnefs when' 
he fpoke of me ; which he took occafion to do very 
often. I had pub-limed fome account of the fhort 
Tour I had made, in feveral letters 5 in which my 
chief defigns was to expofe both Popery and Tyranny. 
The book was well received, and was much read : 
And it raifed the King's difpleafure very high. 

My continuing at the Hague made him conclude, 
that I was managing dedans againft him. And fome 
papers in (ingle meets came-out, reflecting on the pro- 
ceedings of England, which feemed to have a confider- 
able effect on thofe who read them. Thefe were printed 
m Holland : And many copies of them were fent into 
all the parts of England. All which inflamed the King 
the more again ft me ; for he believed they were writ by 
me, as indeed moft of them were. But that which gave 
thecrifis to the King's anger was, that he heard I was 
to be married to a confic'erable fortune at the Hague. 
So a project was formed to break this, by charging me 
with high-treafon for coiTefponding with Lord Argile, 
and for converting with fome that were outlawed for. 
high-treafon. 

The King ordered a letter to be writ in bis name to 
his Advocate in Scotland, to profecute me for fome 
probable thing or other ; which was intended only to 
make a noife, not doubting but this would break the 
intended marriage. A fliip corning from Scotland the 

day 



507 



day in which this profecutiqn was ordered, that had a 
quick paffage, brought me the firft news of it, long 
before it was fent to D' Albeville. So I petitioned the 
States, who were theu fitting, to be naturalized in 
prder to my intended marriage. And this paft of 
courfe, without the lead difficulty; which perhaps 
might have been made, if this profecution, now begun 
in Scotland, had been known. Now I was legally 
under the protection of the States of Holland. Yet I 
writ a full juftification of myfelf, as to all particulars 
]aid to my charge, in feme letters that I fent to the 
^arl of Middleton. But in one of thefe I faid, that, 
being now naturalized in Holland, my allegiance was, 
(during my ftay in thefe parts, transferred from his 
Majefty to the States. I alfo faid in another letter, 
that, if, upon my non-appearance, a fentence mould pafs 
againft me, I might be, perhaps, forced to juftify myfelf, 
and to give an account of the (hare that I had in affairs 
thefe twenty years paft : In which I might be led to 
mention fome things, that, \ was afraid, would difpleafe 
the King: And therefore I fhould be forry, if I were 
driven to it. 

Now the Court thought they had fomewhat againft 
me: For they knew they had nothing before. So the 
firft citation was let fall, and a new one was ordered on 
thefe two accounts. Ft was pretended to be high-treafon, 
to fay my allegiance was now transferred : And it was 
fet-forth, as a high indignity to the King, to threaten 
him with writing a hiftory of the tranfa&ions paft thefe 
Jaft twenty years. The firft of thefe ft ruck at a great 
point, which was a part of the law of Nations. Every 
man that was naturalized took an oath of allegiance to 
jlhe Prince, or State, that naturalized him. Arid, fince 
ff.p man can ferve two matters, or be under a double 

allegiance, 



508 

allegiance, it is certain, that there muft be a transfer of 
allegiance, at leafl during the flay in the country where 
one is fo naturalized. 

This matter was kept-up againft me for fome time, 
the Court delaying proceeding to any fentence for feveral 
months. At laft a fentence of outlawry was given t 
And upon that Albeville faid, that, if the States would 
not deliver me up, he would find fuch inftruments as 
fhould feize on me, and carry me away forcibly. The 
methods he named of doing this were very ridiculous* 
And he fpoke of it to fo many perfons, that I believed 
his defign was rather to frighten me, than that he 
could think to effect them. Many overtures were 
made to fome of my friends in London, not only to 
let this profecution fall, but to promote me, if I would 
make myfelf capable of it. I entertained none of thefe. 
I had many {lories brought me of the difcourfes among 
fome of the brutal Irifh, then in the Dutch fervice. 
But, I thank God, I was not moved with them. I 
refolved to go- on, and to do my duty, and to do what 
fervice I could to the publick, and to my Country : 
And refigned myfelf up entirely to that Providence, 
that had watched over me to that time with an indulgent 
care,, and had made all the defigns of my enemies 
againft me turn to my great advantage. 

Oftheyear I come now to the year 1688, which proved memor- 
able, and produced an extraordinary and unheard-of 
Revolution. The year in this Century made all people 
reflecl on the fame year in the former Century, in 
which the power of Spain received fo great a check, 
that the decline of that Monarchy began then; and 
England was faved from an invafion, that, if it had 
fucceeded as happily as it was well laid, muft have 

ended 



memorial. 
to the 
Stace-*- 



509 

tnded in the abfolute conqueft and utter ruin of the 
Nation. Our books are fo full of all that related to 
that Armada, boafted to be invincible, that I need add 
no more to fo known and fo remarkable a piece of our 
hiftory. A new eighty-eight raifed new expectations, 
in which the furprifing events did far exceed all that 
•Gould have been looked-for. 

I begin the year with Albeville's negotiation after ^ lb ^ vi1Je ^ 
his coming to the Hague. He had, before his going- 
over, given-in a threatning memorial upon the bufinefs 
of Bantam, that looked like a prelude to a declaration 
of war ; for he demanded a prefent anfwer, fince the 
King could no longer bear the injuflice done him in 
that matter, which was fet-forth in very high words. 
He fent this memorial to be printed at Amfterdani, 
before he had communicated it to the States. The 
chief eflfecl: that this had was, that the Actions of the 
Company did (ink for fome days. But they rofe foon 
again: And by this it was faid, that Albeville him- 
felf made the greateft gain. The Eaft-India fleet was 
then expected home every day. So theMerchants, who 
remembered well the bufinefs of the Smirna fleet in the 
year feventy-two, did apprehend that the King had 
fent a fleet to intercept them, and that this memorial 
was intended only to prepare an apology for that breach, 
when it mould happen: But nothing of that fore 
followed upon it. The States did anfwer this memoral- 
with another, that was firm, but more decently expreii- 
ed : By their lad treaty with England it was provided 
that, in cafe any dispute Ihould arife between the 
Merchants of either fide, Commifnoners mould be 
named on both fides to hear and judge the matter. The 
King had not yet named any of his fide: So that the 
delay Jay at his door. They were therefore amazed t<* 

receive 



510 

receive a memorial in fd high a (train, fince they had 
dont all that by the treaty was incumbent on them; 
Albeville after this gate-in another memorial, in which 
he defired them to fend over Commiffloners for ending 
that difpute. But, tho' this was a great fall from the 
height in which the former memorial was conceived, 
yet in this the thing was fo ill apprehended, that the 
Dutch had reafon to believe that the King's Minifters 
did not know the treaty, or were not at leifure to read 
it : For, according to the treaty, and the prefent 
pofture of that bufinefs, the King was obliged to fend 
over Commiffioners to the Hague to judge of that 
affair. When this memorial was anfweredj and the 
treaty was examined, the matter was let fall. 

Albevi lie's next negociation related to myfelf. I had 
printed a paper in judication of myfelf, together with 
my letters to theEarl of Middleton. And he, in a memo- 
rial, complained of two pafiages in that paper. One was$ 
that I faid it was yet too early to perfecute men for religi- 
on,and,therefore, crimes againft the State were pretend- 
ed bymy enemies : This, he faid, did infinuale, that the 
King did in time intend to perfecute for religion. 
The other was, that I had put in it an intimation, that 
I was in danger by fome of the Jrvfti Papifts. This> 
he faid, was a reflection on the King, who hated all 
fuch practices. And to this he added, that, by the laws 
or England, all the King's fubje&s were bound to feize 
on any perfon, that was condemned in his Courts, in 
what manner foever they could: And therefore he de- 
fired, that both I and the printer of that paper might be 
punifhed. But now upon his return to the Hague, I 
being outlawed by that time, he demanded, that,- 
in purfuance of an article of the treaty that related to 
rebels or fugitives, I might be hanimed the Pro- 
vinces, 



611 

vinces. And to this he craved once and again a fyeedy 
anfwer. 

I was called before the Deputies of the States of Hol- 
land, that 1 might anfwer the two memorials that lay 
before them relating to myfelf. I obferved the differ- 
ence between them. The one defired, that the States 
would puni(h me, which did acknowledge me to be 
their Subject. The other, in contradiction to that, 
.laid claim to me as the King's rebel. As to the par- 
ticulars complained-of, I had made no reflection on 
the King; but to the contrary. I faid, my enemies 
found it was not yet time to perfecute for religion. 
This infinualed, that the King could not be brought to 
it. And no perfon could be offended with this, but 
he who thought it was now not too early to perfecute. 
As to that of the danger which I apprehended my- 
felf to be in, I had now more reafon than before to 
complain of it, fince the Envoy had fo publiekly af- 
firmed, that every one of the King's fubjects might 
feize on any one that was condemned, in what manner 
foever they could, which was either dead or alive. I was 
now the fubject of the States of Holland, naturalized 
in order to a marriage among them, as they all knew : 
And, therefore, I claimed their protection. So, if I 
was charged with any thing that was not according to 
law, I fubmitted myfelf to their juftice. I mould decline 
no trial, nor the utmoft feverity, if I had offended in 
any thing. As for the two memorials that claimed me 
as a fugitive and a rebel, I could not be looked-upon 
as a fugitive from Scotland. It was now fourteen years 
flnce I had left that Kingdom, and three fince I came 
but of England with the King's leave. I had lived 
a year in the Hague openly ; and nothing was laid to 
my charge. As for the fentence that was pretended to 

be 



512 

be pad againft me, I could fay nothing to it> till t 
faw a copy of it. 
The States The States were fully Satisfied with my anfwersj 
whatrelat- an( ^ ordered a memorial to be drawn according to them**, 
«d tome. Xhey alfo ordered their Embaflador to reprefent to the 
King that he himfelf knew how facred a thing Natu- 
ralization was. The faith and honour of every State 
was concerned in it, I had been naturalized upon 
marrying one of their fubje&s, which was the jufteftof 
allreafons. If theKinghad anything to lay to my charge, 
juftice mould be done in their Courts. The King took 
the matter very ill ; and faid, it was an affront offered 
him, and ajuft caufe of war. Yet, after much pafiion, 
he faid, he did not intend to make war upon it $ for 
he was not then in a condition to do it. But he knew 
there were defigns againft him, to make war on him, 
again ft which he mould take care to fecure himfelf i 
And he mould be on his guard. The Embaffador 
afked him, of whom he meant that. But he did not 
think fit to explain himfelf further. He ordered a 
third Memorial to be put-in againft me, in which the 
article of the treaty was fet-forth : But no notice was 
taken of the anfwers made to that by the States : But 
it was infilled -on, that, fince the States were bound 
not to give fancluary to fugitives and rebels, they ought 
not to examine the grounds on which fuch judgements 
were given, but were bound to execute the treaty. 
Upon this it was obferved, that the words in treaties 
ought to be explained according to their common 
acceptation, or the fenfe given them in the civil law, 
and not according to any particular forms of Courts, 
where for non-appearance a writ of outlawry, or rebel- 
lion might lie : The fenfe of the word Rebel in common 
ufe was, a man that had born arms, or had plotted 

againft 



againft his Prince : And a Fagitivtxvbi a man that fled 
from juftice. The heat with which the King feemed 
inflamed againft me, carried him to fay and do many 
things that were very little to his honour. 

I had advertifements fent me of a farther progrefs 
in his defigns againft me. He had it fuggefted to him, 
that, fince a fentence was paft againft me for non-ap- 
pearance, and the Stales refufed to deliver me up, he 
might order private perfons to execute the fentence as 
they could: And it was writ over very pofi lively, that 
5000/. would be given to any one that mould murder 
me. A Gentleman of an unbkmifhed reputation writ K g 
me word, that he himfelf, by accident, faw an order 
drawn in the Secretary's Office, but not yet figned, for 
3000/ to a blank perfon that was to feize, or deftroy, 
me. And he alfo affirmed^ that Prince George had 
heard of the fame things and had defired the perfon to 
whom he trufted it to convey the notice of it to me: 
And my author was employed by that perfon to fend 
the notice to me. The King alked JefTeries, what he 
might do againft me in a private wav, now that he 
could not get me into his hands. JefTeries anfwered, 
he did not fee how the King could do any more than 
he had done. He told this to Mr. Kirk to fend it to 
me; for he concluded, the King was refolved to pro- 
ceed to extremities j and only wanted the opinion of a 
man of the Law tojuftifya more violent methods I 
had fo many different advertifements fent me of this 
that I concluded a whifper of fuch a deiign might have 
been fet-about, on defign to frighten me into fome 
mean fubmiffion, or into filence at leaft* But it 
had no other effecl on me, but that I thought fit to 
ftay more within doors j and to ufe a little more than 
ordinary caution. I thank God, I was very little con- 
st L cerned 



514 

cerned at it. I refigned up my life very freely to Goei 
I knew my own innocence, and the root of all the 
malice that was againft me. And I never pollened my 
own foul in a more perfect calm, and in a clearer cheer- 
fulnefs of fpirit, than I did during all thofe tbreatnings $ 
and the apprehensions that others were in concerning, 
me. 
Pensioner Soon after this a letter writ by Fagel, the Penfioner 
letfer \o °^ Holland, was printed : Which leads me to look- 
Mr. Stew- back a little into a tranfa&ion that paflfed in the former 

ara, an emi- 



nent year. There was one Steward, a lawyer or Scotland, a 

taken into man °f great parts, and of as great ambition. He had 
favour by given-over the practice of the law, becaufe all that were 

KmgJames. to . r 

admitted to the Bar in Scotland were required to 
renounce the Covenant; which he would not do. This 
recommended him to the confidence of that whole 
party. They had made great ufe of him, and trufted 
him entirely. Pen had engaged him, (who had been 
long confidered by the King, as the chief manager of 
all the rebellions and plots, that had been- on foot thefe 
twenty years paft,more particularly of Argile's) to come- 
over: And he undertook, that he mould not only be 
received into favour, but into confidence. He came, 
before he crofled the Seas, to the Prince, and promifed 
an inviolable fidelity to him, and to the common 
intereOs of religion and liberty. He had been oft with 
the Penfioner, and had a great meafure of his confi- 
dence. Upon his coming to Court, he was carefTed 
to a degree that amazed all who knew him. He either 
believed, that the King was fincere in the profefllons 
he made, and that his defigns went no further, than 
to fettle a full liberty of conference : Or he thought, 
that it became a man who had been fo long in dif- 
grace, not to (hew any jealoufies at firft, when the 

King. 



515 

King was fo gracious to him. He undertook to do all 
fchat lay in his power to advance his defigns in Scot- 
land, and to reprefent his intentions fo at the Hague, 
as might incline the Prince to a better opinion of 
them. 

He opened all this in feveral letters to the Penfioner* 
And in thefe he prefTed him vehemently, in the King's 
name, and by his direction, to perfuade the Prince to 
concur with the King in procuring the laws to be 
repealed. He laid before him the inconfiderable num- 
ber of the Papifts : So that there was no reafon to 
apprehend much from them. He alfo enlarged on the 
feverities that the penal laws had brought on the 
DiflTenters. The King was refolved riot to corifent to 
fche repealing them^ unlefs the Tefts were taken- away 
with them : So that the refufing to confent to this 
might at another time bring them under another 
fevere profecution. Steward, after he had writ many 
letters to this purpofe without receiving any anfwers > 
tried if he could ferve the King in Scotland, with more 
fuccefs, thari it feemed he was like to have at the 
Hague. But he found there, that his old friends were 
how much alienated from him, looking on him as a 
perfon entirely gained by the Court. 

The Penfioner laid all his letters before the Prince. 
They were alfo brought to me. The Prince upon this 
thought, that a full anfwer made by Fagel, in fuch a 
manner as that it might be publifhed as a declaration, 
of his intentions, might be of fervice to him in many 
refpe&s •, chiefly in Popifh Courts, that were, oh civil 
accounts, inclined to ah alliance againft France, but 
Were now poiTeffed with an opinion of the Prince, and 
of his party in England, as defigriing nothing but the 
H3 ruin 



b\6 

rain and extirpation of all the Papifts in thofe King- 
doms. So the PenfioLer wrote a Jong anfv.er to 
Steward, which was put in Englifh by me. 
The «nti- He De g an » 4 w »h great afllirances of the Prince and 
mcms of prineefs's duty to the Kin of. They were both of them 

the Prince . > c J 

andi'rincess much again ft all persecution on the account of religion, 
concerning They freely confented to the covering Papifts from the 
a£w WS feverities °f tne iaws made againft them, on the account 
i-a^ists and of their religion, and alfo that they might have the free 

Protestant .. ! " . / D ■ 

Dissenters, exercife or it in private. They alfo confented to grant 
a full liberty to Diflenters. But they could not confent 
to the repeal of thofe laws, that tended only to the 
fecuring the Proteftant religion; fuch as thofe concern- 
ing the Tefts, which imported no puniftiment, but only 
an incapacity of being in publick employments, which 
could not be complained -of as great feverities. This 
5? c & was a caution obferved in all Nations, and was now 
neceffary, for fecuring both the publick peace and the 
eftablimed religion. If the numbers of the Papifts 
were fo fmall as to make them inconfiderable, then it 
was not reafonable to make fuch a change for the fake 
of a few. And if thofe few, that pretended to publick 
employments, would do all their own party fo great a 
prejudice, as not to fuffer the King to be content 
with the repeal of the penal laws, unlefs they could get 
into the offices of truft, then their ambition was only 
to be blamed, if the offers now made were not accepted. 
The matter was very flrongly argued thro' the whole 
Letter: And the Prince and Princefs's zeal for the 
Proteftant Religion was fet-out in terms, that could not 
be very acceptable to the King. The Letter was 
carried by Steward to the King, and was brought 
by him into the cabinet-council. But nothing follow- 
ed 



517 

ed then upon it. The King ordered Steward to write- N - B >* 
back, that he would either have all or nothing* All 
theLay-Papifts of England, who were not engaged in the 
intrigues of the Priefts, prcfTed earneftly that the King 
would accept of the repeal of the penal laws; which jj. B 
was offered, and would have made them both eafy 
and fafe for the future. The Emperor was fully 
satisfied with what was offered ; and promifed to ufe his 
intereft at Rome, to get the Pope to write to the King 
to accept of this, as a ftep to the other : But I could 
not learn whether he did it, 01 not. If he did, it had 
no effect. The King was in all points governed by the 
Jefuits, and the French Embaflador. 

FatherPetre,ashe had been long in the confidence, was Father Pe- 
now brought to the Council. board, and made a Privy Counsellor 
Counfellor : And it was given-out, that [he King was 
refolved to get a Cardinal's Cap for him, and to make 
him Archbifhop of York, The Pope was ft.il! firm to 
his resolution again!! it. But it was hoped that the 
King would conquer it, if not in the prefent, yet at fur- 
theft in the next Pontificate. The King refolved at the 
fame time not to difguft the Secular Priefts : So Bifliop 
Leyburn, whom Cardinal Howard had fent-over with 
the Epifcopal character, was made much ufe of in 
appearance, tho' he had no great (hare in the counfels. 
There was a faclion formed between the Seculars and 
the Jefuits, which was fometimes near breaking-out 
into an open rupture. But the King was fo partial to 
the Jefuits, that the others found they were not on 
equal terms with them. There were three other Bi- 
fhops confederated for England. And thefe four were 
ordered to make a progrefs and circuit over England^ 
confirming, and doing other Epifcopal offices^ in all 

2 l 'i the 



518 

Theconfi- the parts of England. Great numbers gathered about 

dcnceofthe 

Jesuits. them, wherefoever they went. 

The Jefuits thought all was fure, and that their 
fcheme was fo well laid that it could not mifcarry. 
And they had fo pofTeffed that contemptible tool of 
theirs, Albeville, with this, that he feemed, upon his 
return to the Hague, to be fo fanguine, that he did not 
Hick to fpeak-out, what a wifer man would have fup- 
prefTed though he had believed it. One day, when 
the Prince was fpeaking of the promifes the King had 
^nade, and the oath that he had (worn, to maintain the 
laws and the edablifbed Church, he, inftead of pretend- 
ing that the King ftill kept his word, faid, i( upon fome 
pccafions Princes muft forget their promifes.'' And, 
when the Prince faid, that the King ought to have more 
regard to the Church of England, which was the main 
• body of the isation, Albeville anfwered, " that the body 
which he called the Church of England would not 
have being two years to an end." Thus he fpoke-out 
thedefigns of the Court, both too early and too openly. 
But at the fame time he behaved himfelf in all other 
refpects fo poorly, that he became the jeft of the Hague. 
The foreign Minifters, Mr. D'Avaux the French Em- 
baifddor not excepted, did not know how to excufe, or 
bear with, his weaknefs, which appeared on all occalions 
and in all companies. 
The Pen- . What he wrote to England upon his flrft audiences 
letterwas was not ^ nown » ? ut ^ was f° on a ^ ter A )reac ^ U P anc * 

printed, down the Kingdom, very artificially and with much 

and was re- ° J 

ceived with induftry, that the Prince and Princefs had now con- 
joy alf S over fented to the repeal of the Tefts, as well as of the penal 
England. Jaws. This was writ over by man) hands to the Hague. 
The Prince, to prevent the ill effects that might follow 

on 



■19. 



en fuck reports, gave orders to print the Pensioner's 
letter to Steward ; which was fent to all the parts of 
England, and was received with an univerfal joy. 
The DiiTenters faw themfeves now fafe in his inten- 
tions towards them. The Church-party was confirmed 
in their zeal for maintaining theTefls. And the Lay- 
Papifts feemed 'likewife to be fo well pleafed with it, 
that they complained of thofe ambitious Priefts, and 
hungry Courtiers, who were refolved, raiher than lay- 
down their afpirings and other projects, to leave them 
ftill expofed to the feverities of the laws, though a 
freedom from thefe was now offered to them. But it 
was not eafy to judge, whether this was fmcerely 
meant by them, or if it was only a popular art, to 
recommend themfelves under fuch a moderate appear- 
ance. The Court faw the hurt that this Letter did 
them. At firft they hoped to have ftifled it by calling 
it an impoflure. But, when they were driven from 
that, the King began to fpeak feverely and indecently 
of the Prince, not only to all about him, but even to 
foreign Ministers : And refolved to put fuch marks of 
his Indignation upon him, as mould let all the world 
fee how deep it was. 



3L4 ANOTHM 



530: 



ANOTHER EXTRACT FROM BISHOP BURNET'S HIS, 
TORY OF HIS OWN TIMES, CONTAINING AN 
ACCOUNT OF THE DEATH OF KING CHARLES 
THE SECOND, AND THE GROUNDS FOR SUPPOS- 
ING THAT HE WAS POISONED. 



. There was at this time a new fcheme formed, that 

A new J 

scheme of very probably would have for ever broken the King 
ment. $nd the Duke. But how it was laid was fo great a 
fecret, that I could never penetrate into it. It was 
laid at Lady Portfmouth-s. Barillon and Lord Sunder- 
land were the chief managers of it. Lord Godolphin 
was alfo in it. The Duke of Monmouth came-over 
fecretly. And, tho' he did not fee the King, yet he 
went- back very well pleafed with his journey. But he 
never told his reafon to any, that I know of. Mr. May, 
of the privy-purfe, told me, that he was told there was a 
defign to break-out, with which he himfclf would be 
well-pleafed : And when it was ripe, he was to. be 
called-on to come and manage the King's temper, 
which no man underftood better than he did j for he 
had been bred about the King ever fince he was a 
child : And, by his poft, he was in the fecret of all his 
amours ; but was contrary to his notions in every thing 
elfe, both with relation to Popery, to France, and to 
Arbitrary government. Yet he was fo true to the 
King, in that leud confidence in which he employed 
him, that the King had charged him never to prefs 

him 



531 



him in any thing, fo as to provoke him. By ihh 
means he kept all this while much at a dillance ; for he 
would not enter into any difcourfe with the King on 
matters of (late, till the King began with him. And he 
told me, he knew, by the King's way, that things were 
not yet quite ripe, nor he thoroughly fixed on the 
defign. That with which they were to begin was, the 
fending the Duke to Scotland. And it was generally 
believed, that, if the two brothers mould be once part- 
ed, they would never meet again. The King fpoke to 
the Duke concerning his going to Scotland : And he 
anfwered, that there was no occafion for it :•-- Upon 
which the King replied, that either the Duke mu ft go, 
or that he himfelf would go thither. 

The King was obferved to be more than ordinarily 
penfive. And hisfondnefs to Lady Portfmouth increaf- 
ed, and broke-out in very indecent inftances. The 
Grand Prior of France, the Duke of Vendome's brother, 
had made fome application to that Lady, with which' 
the King was highly offended. It was faid, the King 
came- in on a fudden, and faw that which provoked him: 
So he commanded h!m immediately to go out of Eng- 
land. Yet, after that, the King carefTed her in the 
view of all people, which he had never done on any 
occafion, or to any perfon, formerly. The King was 
obferved to be colder and more referved to the Duke 
than ordinary. But "what was under all this" was (till 
a deep fecret. Lord Halifax was let into no part of it. 
He (till went-on againft Lord Rochefter. He com- 
plained in council, that there were many razures in. 
the books of the Treafury, and that feveral leaves were 
cut-out of thofe books: And he moved the King to go 
to the Treafury-chamber, that the books might be 
laid before him ; and that he might judge of the matter 

upon 



522 

Feb. 2, upon fight. So the King named the next Monday. 
And it was then expected, that the Earl of Rocheiter 
would have been turned-out of all, if not fent to the 
Tower. And a meflage was fent to Mr. May, then at 
Windfor, to defire him to come to Court that day, 
which it was expected would prove a critical day, 
And it proved to be fo indeed, tho' in a different 
way. 

The King's All this winter the King looked better than he had 
done for many years. He had a humour in his leg, 
which looked like the beginning of the gout : So that 
for fome weeks he could not walk, as he ufed to do 
generally, three or four hours a day in the Park; which 
he did commonly fo fail, that, as it was really an 
exercife to himfelf, fo it was a trouble to all about him 
to hold-up with him. In the ftate the King was in, 
he, not being able to walk, fpent much of his time in 
his laboratory, and was running a procefs for the fixing 
of Mercury. On the firft of February, being a Sun- 
day, he eat little all day, and came to Lady Portfmouth 
at night, and called for a porringer of fpoon-meat. It 
was made too ftrong for his ftomach. So he eat little 
of it : And he had an unquiet night. In the morning 
one Dr. King, a Phyfician and a Chymift, came, as he 
had been ordered, to wait on him. All the King's 
difcourfe to him was fo broken, that he could not 
underftand what he meant. And the Doctor conclud- 
ed, he was under fome great diforder, either in his 
mind, or in his body. The Doctor, amazed at this, 
went-out, and, meeting with the Lord Peterborough, he 
faid, the King was in a flrange humour j for he did 
not fpeak one word of fenfe. Lord Peterborough de- 
lired he would go-in again to the bedchamber, which 
he did. And he was fcarce come-in, when the King, 

who 



523 

who feemed all the while to be in great confufion 5 
fell-down all of a hidden in a fit like an Apoplexy : 
He looked black, and his eyes turned in his head. The 
Phyfician, who had been formerly an eminent Sur- 
geon, faid, it was impoffible to fave the King's life, if 
one minute was loft : He would rather venture on the 
rigour of the law, than leave the King to perifh. And 
£o he let him blood. The King came out of that fit i 
And the phyflcians approved what Dr. King had done: 
Upon which the Privy Council ordered him a thoufand 
pound ; which yet was never paid him. Tho' the King 
came out of that fit, yet the effects of it hung Mill upon 
him, fo that he was much oppreffed. And the phyfici- 
ans did very much apprehend the return of another fit, 
and that it would carry him off: So they looked on 
him as a dead man. The Bifhop of London fpoke a 
little to him, to difpofe him to prepare for whatever 
might be before him, to which the King anfwered not 
a word. But that was imputed partly to the Bifhop's 
cold way of fpeaking, and partly to the ill opinion they 
had of him at Court, as too bufy in oppofition to 
Popery. San croft made a very weighty exhortation to 
him ; in which he ufed a good degree of freedom, which, 
he faid, was necefTary, flnce he was going to be judged 
by one who was no refpe&er of perfons. To him the 
King made no anfwer neither \ nor yet to Ken, tho* 
the molt in favour with him of all the Bifhops. Some 
imputed this to an infenfibility ; of which too vififrle 
an inftance appeared, flnce Lady Portfmouth fat in the 
bed, taking care of him as a wife of a hufband. Others 
gueffed truer, that it would appear he was of another 
religion. On Thurfday a fecond fit returned. And Feb . 5y 
then the phyflcians told the Duke, that the King was 1684 ' 5 - 
not like to live a day to ar* end. 

The 



Hcreceived The D uke immediately ordered Hudlefton, thePriefV 

the Sacra- 

ments from that had a great hand in feving the King at Worcefter 
Priest.' fight* (for whieh he was excepted out of all fevere a&s 
that were made againft Priefts,) to be brought to the 
lodgings under the bed-chamber. And when he was 
told what was to be done, he was in great confufion ; 
for he had no hoftie about him. But he went to 
another Pried, that lived in the Court, who gave him 
tire pix with an hoftie in it. But that poor Pried was 
io frighted, that he run out of Whitehall in fuch hafte 
that he (buck againft: a poll, and feemed to be in a fit of 
madnefs with fear. As foon as Hudleilon had prepar- 
ed every thing that was neceflary, the Duke whifpered 
the King in the ear. Upon that the King ordered that 
all who were in the bed chamber to withdraw, except 
the Earls of Bath, and Feveriliam : And the door 
was double locked. The company was kept-out half 
an hour: Only Lord Feverfham opened the door once, 
and called for a glafs of water. Cardinal Howard told 
me at Rome, that Hudlefton, according to the rela- 
tion that he fent thither, made the King togo thro* fome 
a&s of contrition, and, after fuch a contefiion as he 
could then make, he gave him Abfolution and the other 
Sacraments. The hoftie ftuck in his throat: And that 
was the occafion of calling for a glafs of water. He 
alfo gave him extream Unclion. All muft have been 
performed very fuperficially, fmce it was fo foon ended. 
But the King feemed to be at great eafe upon it. It 
was given-out, that the King faid to Hudlefton, that he 
had faved him twice, firft his body, and now his foul j 
and that he afked him, if he would have him declare 
himfelf to be of their Church. But it feems he was 
prepared for this, and fo diverted the King from it , and 
faid, he took it upon him to fatisfy the world in that 

particular. 



525 

particular.. Bat, tho', by the principles of all religions' 
whatfoever, he ought to have obliged him to make 
open 'profeffion of his religion., yet, it feems, the con- 
fequences of that were apprehended; for without doubt 
that poor Prieft acted by the directions that were given 
him. The company was fuflfercd to come-in. And 
the King v/ent through the agonies of Death with a calm 
and a conuancy, that amazed all who were about him, 
and knew how he had lived. This made fome conclude, 
that he had made a will, and that his quiet was the 
effect of that. Ken applied himfelfmuch to the awak- 
ing the King's confcience. He fpoke with a great 
elevation, both of thought and expreffion, like a man 
infpired, as thofe who were prefent told me. He renam- 
ed the matter often, and pronounced many fhort 
ejaculations and prayers, which affected all that were 
prefent, except him that was the mod concerned ; who 
feemed to take no notice of him, and made no anfwers 
to him. He prefted the King fix or feven times to 
receive the Sacrament. But tne King always declined 
it, faying, he was very weak. A table, with the elements 
upon it ready to be confecrated, was brought into the 
room ; which occafioned a report to be then fpread 
about, that he had received it. Ken prefled him to 
declare that he defired it, and that he died in the Com- 
munion of the Church of England. To that he anfwer- 
ed nothing. Ken afked him, if he defired Abfolution 
of his fms. It feems the King, if he then thought any 
thing at all, thought that would do him no hurt. So 
Ken pronounced it over him : For which he was blamed, 
fince the King exprefled no fenfe of forrow for his pair. 
life, nor any purpofe of amendment. It was thought 
to be a proftitution of the peace of the Church, to give 
it to one, who, after a life led as the King's had been, 

feemed 



525 

Feerned to harden himfelf againft every thing that could 
be faid to him. Ken was alfo cenfured for another 
piece of indecency: He rjrefented the Duke of Rich- 
mond, Lady Portfmouth's fon, to be blefied by the 
King. Upon this some that were in the room cried- 
but, " the King was their common father." And, upon 
that, all kneeled down for his bleffing ; which he gave 
them. The King fuffered much inwardly, and faid, he 
k. b. was burnt-up within j of which he complained often, 
but with great decency. He faid once, he hoped he 
mould climb-up to heaven's gates, which was the only 
word favouring of religion that he was heard to fpeak. 

He gathered all his ftrength to fpeak his laft words 
to the Duke, to which every one hearkened with great 
attention. He exprefied his kindnefs to him, and that 
he now delivered all over to him with great joy. He 
recommended Lady Portfmouth over and over agairi 
to him. He faid, he had always loved her, and he 
loved her now to the laft ; and befought the Duke, in 
as melting words as he tould fetch-out, to be very 
kind to her and to her fon. He recommended his 
other children to him : And concluded, " let not poor 
Nelly ftarve;" that was Mrs. Gwyn. But he laid 
nothing of the Queen, nor any one word of his people^ 
or of his fervants : Nor did he fpeak one word of reli 
gion, or concerning the payment of his debts, tho' he 
left behind him about 90,000 guineas, which he had 
gathered, either out of the privy purfe, or out of the 
money which was fent him from France, or by other 
methods, and which he had kept fo fecretly that no 
perfon whatfoever knew any thing of it. 
His death. He continued in the agony till Friday at eleven 
a clock, being the fixth of February, 1684-5 ; and then 
died in the fifty-fourth year of his age, after he had 

reigned 



537 

reigned, if we reckon from his father's death, thirty- 
fix years, and eight days; or, if we reckon from his 
Refroration, twenty-four years, eight months, and nine 
days. There were many very apparent fufpicions of 
his being poifoned : For, tho' the firft accefs looked like 
an apoplexy, yet it was plain in the progrefs of it that it 
was no apoplexy. When his body was opened, the 
f>hyficians who viewed it were, as it were, led, by thofe 
who might fufpect the truth, to look upon the parts 
that were certainly found. But both Lower and Need- 
bam, two famous phyficians, told me, they plainly 
difcerned two or three blue fpots on the outride of the 
ilomach. Needham called twice to have it opened: 
But the furgeons feemed not to hear him. And when 
he moved it the fccond time, he, as he told me, heard 
Lower fay to one that flood next him, " Needham will 
undo us, calling thus to have the ftomach opened; for 
he may fee they will not do it." They were diverted to 
look to fomewhat elfe: And, when they returned to 
look upon the ftomach, it was carried-away : So that 
it was never viewed, Le Fevre, a French phyfician, 
told me, he faw a blacknefs in the fhoulder : Upon 
which he made an incifion, and faw it was all mortifi- 
ed.. Short, another phyfician, (who was a Papift, but 
after a form of his own,) did very much fufpect foul 
dealing : And he had talked more freely of it, than 
any of the Proteftants durft do at that time. But he 
was, not long afterj taken fuddently ill, upon a laro-e 
draught of wormwood wine, which he had drunk in 
the houfe of a Popifh patient, that lived near the 
Tower, who had fent for him; of which he died. And* 
as he faid to Lower, Milling ton, and fome other phy- 
ficians* he believed that he himfelf was poifoned, for N. B. 
his having fpoken fo freely of the King's death,' The 

King's 



j2S 



King's body was indecently neglected. Some parts of 
his inwards, and fome pieces of the fat, were left in. 
the water in which they were warned: All which 
were fo carelefslv looked-after, that, the Water being 
poured-out at a fcuilery-hole that went to a drain, in 
the mouth of which a grate lay, thefe were feen lying 
on the grate many dajs after. His funeral was very 
mean. He did not lie in ft ate : No mournings were 
given : And the expense of it was not equal to what 
an ordinary Nobleman's funeral will rife to. Many 
upon this faid, that hedeferved better from his brother, 
than to be thus ungratefully treated in ceremonies that 
are publick, and that make an impreffiori on thofewho 
fee them, and who will make fevere obfervations and 
inferences on fuch omiffions. But> fmce I have men- 
tioned the fufpicions of poifon, as the caufe of his 
death, I muft add, I never heard any lay thofe fufpi- 
cions on his brother. But his dying (o critically, as 
it were in the minute in which he feemed to begin a 
turn of affairs, made it be generally the more believed, 
and that the Papifts had done it, either by the means 
of fome of Lady Portfm mth's fervantSj or, as fome 
fancied, by poifoned fnufTj for fo many of the fmall 
veins of the brain were burft, that the brain was in 
great diforder, and no judgment could be made con- 
cerning it. To this I fhali add a very furprifing (lory *, 
that I had in November, 1/09, from Mr. Henly of 
Hampfhire. He told me, that, when the Dutchefs 
of Portfmouth came-over to England in the year 1699, 
he heard, that fhe had talked as if King Charles had 
been poifoned * which he defiring to have from her 
own mouth, fhe gave him this account of it. She 
was always prefling the King to make both himfelf 

* This is added to the original in a loose sheet. 

and 



529 

and his people eafy, and to, come to a full agreement 
with his Parliament: And he was come to a final refo- 
lution of fending away his brother, and of calling a 
Parliament; which was to be executed the next day N. B. 
after he fell into that. fit. of. which he died. She was 
put upon the fecret, and fpoke of it to no perfon alive, 
but to her Confeflbr : But the Confeffbr, (he believed, 
told it to fome, who, feeing what was to follow, took 
that wicked courfe to prevent it. Having this from fo 
worthy a perfon, as I have fet it down without adding 
the leaft circumftance to it, I thought it too important 
not to be mentioned in his hiftory* It difcovers both the 
knavery of Confeffors, and the practices of Papifts, fo 
evidently, that there is no need of making any further 
reflections on it, 



2 M 



530 



531 

THE 

PAPISTS' 

BLOODY OATH OF SECRECY 
LITANY OF INTERCESSION 



ENGLAND : 

With the Manner of taking the Oath, upon their 
entring into any Grand Con/piracy againft the 
Protejlants. 

As it was taken in the Chapel belonging to Barn- 
bow- Hall, the Refidence of Sir Thomas Gafcoigne y 
from William Rujhton, a Popifh Prieft. 



BY ROBERT EOLRON, GENT. 



JOVlS 16° D1K DECEMBRlSj 16S0. 

Ordered, 

That Mr. Robert Bolron have Liberty from this 
Houfe, to print and publijh the /aid Oath of Secrecy 
and Litany. 

W. Goldfbrough, Clcr. D. C. 



LONDON : 
Printed in the Year 1680. Reprinted for S. Slow, 
and Sold over-againft St. Clement's Church in the 
Strand. 1745. 



2 M 2 



53S 



Jovis 16 Die Decembris 1680. 

A Petition of Mr. llohert Bolron> deli ring Leave 
from This houfe, to print the PAPISTS' Oath of S*- 
crecy. and Litany of Inter cejfion for England therein 
mentioned, was Read. 



Ordered, 

That Mr, Robert Bolron have Liberty from Thit 
Houfe to Print and Pullifh the said Oatij of Se- 
crecy and Litany, 

William Goldfbrough s 
Cler. Dom. Com< 



The 



533 



THE 



INFORMATION, $c. 



AFTEJl the antient Piety, Zeal, and Stri&nefs of 
Life, exemplary in the Primitive Chriftians, had, in & 
meafure,put the Dominion of this World, and the Keys 
of the next, into the Hands of the Clergy ; Care of gain- 
ing Souls became, in a few Centuries, obsoleted : The 
former illuftrious Times of Virtue vanifhed, and a 
gloomy Night of Ignorance foon overspread the Uni- 
verfe. The Clergy, the Authors of this Unhappinefs, 
(finding their Religion and Greatnefs muft be main- 
tained by Power and Policy ; and confcious to them- 
felves, that their Lives and Doctrine held no good 
Correfpondence with the Purity and Poverty of their 
Predeceffors,) took a Courfe (becaufe they had little left 
of their own) to trade with the Piety of the Ages paft, 
and prop-up their own Ignorance and Sloth by that 
Means. To work they go ; they make Gods of the 
deceafed Propagators of Chriftianity, and enflirine their 
Rotten Bones, or thofe of others, in Cafes of Gold and 
Silver. The next Thing was, to perfuade or compel 
the People to adore them. In this Erecting a new 
Order of Demi-gods, they imitated the Pagans in their 
Wickednefs, but not in their Virtue or Valour, and 
clapped the feftivals of thefe new Pa- Gods into the 
Calendar in Places of the old Holy-days of Saturn* 
2 m 3 Minerva, 



b3i 



Minerva, and Bacchus, &c. This Project anfwered 
Expectation ; they grew greater, but not better. The 
Miracles pretendedly wrought at thofe Shrines, and 
Multitude of Ceremonies, dazled the Vulgar, supported 
the Reputation, and fupplied the Defect of the Clergy. 
The glorious Lives, Wonders, and Martyrdoms, of 
the Antients were made into Mantles to hide the 
Ignorance, Luft, and Avarice, of worthlefs Inpoftors ; 
and Laws every-where were made to reftrain Men from 
peeping into the Ark of the Church. And, to (trip 
Princes privily of their Power, and to draw their Subjects 
to other Dependencies, numerous Orders and Societies 
are conjured-up, (as though the Laiety had not groaned 
enough under the Seculars,) to erect a kingdom in every 
Kingdom for the Pope, and to fupply him in every 
Corner with a Villain Spiritual, to (lab or poifon what 
Potentates he pleafes. 

Things thus jogg'd-on till the Days of our Grand- 
fathers •, when in England the Pope and his Clergy 
were fecluded, and it was made Death for any Romijb 
Priefl. to enter the Realm. Yet, fince, they have not 
only come hither, but, by Help of Factors and Profelytes, 
have acquired great Eftates in thefe Kingdoms, and are 
now endeavouring to deftroy us all, and introduce 
Vopery. 

This is as clear as Noon-day, by many Teflimonies, 
among which, this Oath following is a mod notorious 
Evidence, on which I mall make fume Remarks. 



THE 



535 



THE OATH OF SECRECY, 

Given by tPVliam Rujhton, to me Robert Bolron$ 
the fecond of February 1676-7. 

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and 
of the Holy Ghoft. Amen. 



I, RofcEkT Bolron, being in the Presence of 

Almighty God, the Blessed Mary ever Virgin, 
the Blessed Michael the Archangel, the Blessed 
St. John Baptift, the holy Apostles, St. Peter 
and St. Paul, and all the Saints in Heaven, and 
to you my Ghostly Father ; do declare, and in 
my Heart believe, thePope, Chrift's Vicar-Gene~ 
ral, to be the true, and only, Head of Chrift's 
Church here on earth ; and that, by Virtue of 
the Keys of Binding and Loosing, given his 
Holiness by our Saviour Chrift, he hath Power 
to depose all heretical Kings and Princes, and 
cause them to be killed. Therefore, to the 
utmost of my Power, I Will defend this Doc- 
trine, and his Holiness's Rights, against all 
Usurpers whatever; especially against the now 
pretended King of England, in regard that he 
hath broke his Vows with his Holiness' 's J gents N. b, 
2 m 4 beyond 



536 

beyond Seas, and not performed his Promises, 
in bringing into England the Holy Romaa 
Catholick Religion. I do renounce and disown 
any Allegiance as due to the said pretended 
King erf England, or Obedience to any of his 
inferior Officers and Magistrates ; hut do 
believe the Proteftant Doctrine to be heretical 
and damnable, and that all are damned which 
do not forsake the same; and, to the best of my 
Power, will help hU Holiness' s Agents here in 
England;, to extirpate, and root-out the said 
n. b. Proteftant Doctrine y and to destroy the said 
pretended King of England, and all such of his 
Subjects, as will not adhere to the Holy See of 
Rome, and the Religion there professed. I 
further do promise and declare, That I will keep 
secret and private, and not divulge, directly 
nor indirectly, by Word, Writing, or Circum- 
siance, whatever shall be proposed, given in 
Charge, or discovered, to me by you my Ghostly 
■Father, or any other engaged in the promoting 
of this pious and holy Design ; and that lwill 
be active, and not desist from the carrying of 
it on : And that no hopes of Rewards, Threats, 
or Punishments, shall make me discover the rest 
concerned in so pious a Work; and, if disco- 
vered, shall never confess any Accessaries, 
with myself concerned in this Design. All 
which I do swear by the Blessed Trinity, and 
by the Blessed Sacrament, (which I now purpose 

to 



537 



eo receive,) to perform, and, on my Tart, to keep 
inviolable : And do call all the Angels, and 
Saints in Heaven^ to witness my real Intention to 
keep this QatJu In Testimony whereof, 1 do 
receive this most Holy and Blessed Sacrament oj 
the Eucharist. 

It is manifeft, that the Grandees of the Roman 
Church make no more Account of Religion* 
than the Profit and Convenience it brings along 
with it, are able to compense : Yet they ever 
begin with a Holy Caniicum, In nomine Pa- 
tris ; by fuch Means inducing the People to 
fwallow their gilded Pills, or Poifons rather, to 
the Deftrucuon oftentimes of Body and Soul 
too. 

In this wicked Thing call'd an Oath, they 
blafphemoufly fet-up the Blessed Mary, St. 
Michael, St. John, St. Peter 9 St. Paul, and 
Rushton, the prieft, in an equal C'affiswith God 
Almighty ; but mention not Chrifr, till they come 
to declare the Pope to be his Vicar, and that 
thereby the Pope hath Letters-Patents, toim- 
power him to do what he (hall think fit, in 
Heaven, Hell, Earth, and in Purgatory ; to depofe 
and kill heretick Kings, yea, and Catholick ones 
too, when he vvantsCpportunityto advance aHar- 
lot, a Baftard, or a Nephew. In fuch Cafes,, a 
Chastel, a Clement, a Ravilliack, or a Pickering, 
are ever ready to tranfmit whom he pleafes into 

another 



533 

another World, whilft himfelf, without fuch Help; 
but not without Money, puts a Soul into Heaven^ 
or pulls one out of Purgatory. 

Indeed this Oath is its own Herald, is its own 
Comment ; every Word of it is Rebellion* 
Treason, and Murder, ililed hypocritically Pious 
and holy Designs ; it was ftampt in the Mint of 
the Jesuits, and is a very notable Comment upon 
that Oath, which bleffed Ignatius Loyola im* 
pofed upon his fpiritual Mamaluks, and may 
give us to underftand, that Romish Wickedness 
is fublimated fince thofe Days into a much higher 
Spirit of Treachery and Impiety. The Oath 
then made to the Father General is as fol- 
lowed. 



Ego JV". Profeffionem facio, & promitto omni- 
potent Deo, coram ejus Virgine Matre, Sc 
univerfa ccelefti Curia, ac omnibus circum* 
ftantibus; & tibi Patri Reverendo N. Pnepofito 
Generali Societatis Jesu, Locum Dei tenenti, & 
Succeflbribus tuis, vel tibi Reverendo Patri, Vice 
Praspoiko Generali Societatis Jesu, & SuccefTori- 
bus tuis, Locum Dei tenenti, perpetuam Pau- 
pertatem, Caftitatem, & Obedientiam, & fecun- 
diim eas, pecuiiarem Curam, circa Puerorum 
Eruditionem, juxta Formam vivendi in Literi9 
Apoftolicis Societatis Jesu, & in ejus Conftitu- 
tionibus contentam ; infuper promitto fpccialem 
Obedientiam Summo Pontifici circa Mifliones, 

prout 



539 

prout in eifdem Literis Apoftolicis & Conftku- 
tionibus continetur. 

Which is Englished thus : 

7, N. make my Profession, and promise to t!ie 
Omnipotent God,, before his Fir gin- Mother, and 
all the whole Court of Heaven, and nil that here 
stand-by, and to you our Reverend Father, the 
Father* General of the Society of Jefus, G6dftJ*** ft «* 
Lieutenant, and to your Successors, (or to you Rever- 
end Father, in Place of the Provost General of the 
Society of Jefus, God's Lieutenant, and his Suc- 
cessors) perpetual Poverty, Chastity, and Obedi- 
ence ; and accordingly, peculiar Care in the Erudi- 
tion of Youth, consentaneous to the Form of 
Living, contained in the ^postolick Letters of* the^^f 
Society of Jefus., and in the Constitutions thereof 
Moreover, I promise special Obedience to the 
Pope, concerning Missions, as contained in the 
same Apostolick Letters and Constitutions. 



Our new Explanation, or Expofidon, far 
exceeds the old Text, and is a Superftrudure 
upon that priftine Foundation of Villainy, erecled 
fince thofe Times. The Blefled Trinity, the 
Holy Sacrament, and the whole Hod of Heaven, 
are made Packing- hoi fes for impious Mortals 
in the ungodly, uncharitable, Anti-chriitian, 
Works of ruining King?, Kingdom?, and all 

Mankind 



540 

Mankind bcfides themfelves, only to fet-up the 
Court of Ro?ne t and a defpotick Power. Thefe 
horrid Impieties (but that we are promifed the 
Gates of Hd! fhallnot prevail againft them) might 
make confcientious Men, with Trembling, prcfage 
and dread, That the Ruin of Christianity is not 
far off. Thefe Men, when they [wear their 
milled profeiites into Treafons, Murders, Felonies, 
and Secrecy, little mind to CGnfider what is 
taught in Holy Writ concerning an Oath, Jerem. 
v. 2. And thou shalt swear, the Lord liveth in 
Truth, in Judgment, and in Righteousness, &c. 
What Regard thefe Oaths have to Truth, 
Judgment, and Righteoufnefs, let the Reader 
take notice, and proceed to obferve one unpar- 
allel'd Clanfe in the Oath, viz. And that no 
Hopes of Reward, Threats, or Punishments, shall 
make me discover the rest concerned in so pious a 
Work; and, if discovered, shall never confess any 
Accessaries with myself concerned in this De- 
sign. 

Here they lead their Profeiites into a Labyrinth 
of Wicked nefs ; but then they leave them no 
Way or Means to difingagethemfelves or others 
out of it, and confequently to be hanged and 
damned afterwards. This may learn the mod 
wilful and mod obftinate Charity, to have a care 
how it extends itfelf, in believing the Words of 
the dying Jesuits and others. Discite Justitiam mo- 
niti, and let it teach all good Protestants the Nature 

of 



541 



of thefe Romish Wolves, who, though they change 
their Hair, will never change their Hearts. 

Now having given an account of the Oath of 
Secrecy, next 1 will render you an Account, 
how the Jesuits, and Popish priefts do infmuate 
themfelves into the Hearts of thofe, that they 
enfnare to engage in this damnable Defign ; which 
particularly, being exemplified in my own felf, 
may ferve as Inftructions, how others were in- 
duced and encouraged to propagate their hellifh 
Principles : The Relation is as folJoweth, 

About the latter End of January ', 1676, 
^Thomas Thwing, a Prieft, and William Rushtw, 
znoxhor Popish Pried who was my Ghoftly Father, 
came to my Houfe at Shippon-Hall in Yorkshire, 
and did there examine me, how I was afTeded 
and did like the Romish Religion, fince I was of 
it, and, if there were any Occafion, What would 
I do for the Good of that Religion ? To whom I 
replied, That I was fo well affected to the Romish 
Religion, that I would venture my Life and 
Eftate in the Management of any Defign whatfo- 
ever, for the Good of that RELIGION. 
The Priefts then faid, That they were glad to 
hear me in fo good a Humour, and did heartily 
wifli, that all the Catholicks in England were of 
my Mind; and further did tell me, that all 
England in a little Time would be Roman- 
Catholicks ; for that the Duke of York, next Heir 
to the Crown, had renounced the Protestant 

Religion ; 



N.B» 



542 

Religion; Therefore Force was to be ufed, for 
the more fpeedy bringing him to the Crown. 
But added, that, before I could be any further 
acquainted with the Particulars of this Defign,. 
I muft firft take the aforementioned Oath of 
Secrecy, which all good Catholicks muft take ; 
for, if any Catholicks did refufe it, they could 
not be permitted to know of their Defigns and 
Contrivances : For that Sir Thomas Gascoigne, 
Thomas Gascoigne, Efquire, and other Gentle- 
men, had taken the fame, and engaged them- 
felves, and given Security for their refpe&ive 
Performances. 

Then I told the faid Priefts, ce that I would not 
deny to take it ; for I would obey my Ghoftly 
Father in all Things." And Candlemas-day, 
1676,1 did accordingly go to Barnbow-HaM, as 
was formerly agreed, where I did hear Mafs, and 
take the Oath of Secrecy from the Hands of my 
Ghoftly Father, to be private, and keep fee ret 
the Defign of killing his Sacred Majefty, and the 
Destruction of all fuch Protestants, as would 
not be of the Romish Religion ; which Oath of 
Secrecy is before related, and is the true Copy of 
the faid Oath as I got it from the faid Rushton 
accidentally, the very fame Day it was miniftered 
unto me by him. 

Before I did take the Oath of Secrecy, I did 
go to Confeftion, where my Ghoftly Father in 
my faid Confeftion did tell me, that I muft 

believe* 



543 

believe, Tlial it was a mortal Sin to reveal what 
was told me by my Ghostly Father in my Confes- 
sion, and that I ivas certainly damned, if ever I 
did discover the Concerns of this Design, or taking 
the said Oath oj Secrecy, 

But after I had taken the faid Oath of Secrecy, 
aud was acquainted with the Defign, whenever I 
went to Confeftlon, my Ghoftly Father would be 
fure to examine me, how I had kept my Oath ; 
upon which, if my Father ConfeiTor did judge, 
that I had nor fo truly kept the lame, as I ought 
to have done, then muft I have taken the fame 
Oath over-again. Befides, my Ghoftly Father 
did frequently teach me how to make ufe of 
Equivocations and mental Refervations. 

First, How to defend myfeif againfr the 
Protestants, if I were afked by a Stranger, 
Whether Mr. Rushton were a Pried ? that then I 
might lawfully deny it, or, upon Oath before a 
Magistrate, I might pofitively deny my Know- 
ledge of Rushton to be a Popish Prieft ; But then 
I muft privately to myfeif make ufe of this 
Equivocation," That I did not fee the laid Rushton 
take his Orders beyond Sea ; therefore could not 
fwear him to be a Prieft. 51 And then followed the 
Benefit of Abfolution for this or any other SeN 
vice done for the Good of the Romish Religion. 

And indeed my Penance in Confeffion was once 
enjoined me by Father Rushton to lafh myfeif 
with a Cat-of-nine-tails, becaufe I did not deny 

with 



544 

with AfTeverations, to one Mr. Barman, that he 
was no Popish Prieft ; although I did not confefs 
the fame to Mr. Barman, yet he alledged, that I 
did it but faintly, and therefore that fhouid be 
my Penance. 

Secondly, If reproached by the Protestants ; 
* c that they of the Romish Religion made no Con- 
fcience to deftroy thofe that were of contrary 
Opinion to them; 9 ' that then with Imprecations 
I might lawfully deny the fame; only making 
ufe of this Reservation to myfelf, that I muft 
deny any Thing which is againft the Intereft of 
the Church. 

Thirdly, That fmce the Difcovery of this 
Popish plot, if I did at any Time hear the 
Protestants difcourfe, that they of the Romish 
Church did teach the murthering of Kings and 
Princes, and that the King was to have been mur-? 
thered by the Papists, that then I muft vindicate 
the Romish Religion, arguing, that fuch JJo&rine 
the Papists held not, with Refervation to myfelf, 
that I muft not own fuch a Defign,unlefs effeft- 
ed,believingthat Protestors, beingHereticks,had 
no Power to examine me, neither was I oblig'd to 
anfwer directly to the Queftion. 



The 



f>45 



The Ceremonies., Manner, and Form used in the 
taking of the said Oath of Secrecy, is thus ; 



At the Chappel Door, did fprinkle myfelf 
with Holy Water, and then went into the Chap- 
pel, where, bowing towards the Altar, I made the 
Sign of the Oofs, and faid, Sprinkle me with 
Hyssop, and I shall be cleansed ; wash me, and I 
shall be whiter than Snow, Then kneeling, I 
made the Sign of the Crofs, and faid, In the Name 
of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Flo ly 
Ghost, Amen. After that, I faid certain Pray- 
ers ufed before Confeftion; and, at theConclulion, 
made again the Sign of the Crofs; which being 
ended I went into the veftry, where, kneeling, I 
aiked my Ghoftly Father's Blcfling, as Children 
ufually do their Parents. Then, after that, I made 
again the Sign of the Crofs, and then had the 
Benefit of Confeffion, and Abfolution from my 
Sins, and then I went into the Chappel, and faid 
Prayers before Receiving the Sacrament. 

But when Mafs was faid, 1 did not com- 
municate with the reft there prefenr, although 
the Sacrament was confecrated for mej 
but, after the reft were gone, then William 
Rushton, my Ghoftly Father, called me to 
the Altar, where, bowing my Body and 
kneeling, I made the Sign of the Cross- \ 
then I kiss'd the Mafs-Book, and laid my 

n Right - 



546 

Right-Hand upon it, and fo had the Oath 
of Secrecy given me by my Ghoftly Father, 
Rushton, repeating it after him. But at thefe 
Words, In Testimony whereof I do receive ibis most 
Holy and Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist; 
Rushton put the Sacrament into my Mouth, and 
faid this little Latin Prayer following : 

Corpus Domini nostri Jefu Chrifti custodiat ani- 
mam tuam in Vitam teternam. Amen. 

Then again I kifs'd the Mafs-Book, held in the 
prieft's Hand, but held my Hand on the Mafs- 
Book all the Time I was taking the Oath afore- 
faid -, and, after that, riling, bowed my body to the 
Altar in an humble Manner, and fo returned to 
my Place again 

Now, after I had taken the faid Oath of Seer eey % 
Rushton went again into the Veftry, to fay his 
Prayers on his Breviary ; but I continued ftill in 
the Chappel to fay my Prayers ufed after the tak- 
ing of the Sacrament. Then, after Rushton^ my 
Confeffor, came-forth out of the Veftry, he went 
towardshisown Chamber, whither I followed him; 
but, Sir Thomas Gascoigne haftily calling the faid 
Rushton, he laid-down his Breviary in his Clofet, 
to which was no door, and is fituate near his 
Chamber ; which faid Breviary I taking up, found 
therein the faid Oath of Secrecy ; of which Oath I 
had a fufficient Time to take a true Copy, and it 

is 



547 

is the real Copy which is before recited ; although 
when I took the Copy of the faid Oath, I never 
intended that any Protestant (hould have feen' it. 

The fame Day were hallowed for myfelf two 
Piftols, which were to be made ufe of, for the 
DePcruclion of the Protestant Party, if the Roman 
Catholick Religion had prevailed in England. 

There were alfo Swords, Guns and Piftols hal- 
lowed for Thomas Gascoigne, Efq; and others 
engaged in the Popish Plot. And in the faid 
Month, of February, I had an Indulgence, or Pardon 
for Thirty Thousand Years, given me by the faid 
Rushton, my Ghoftly Father, for my Encourage- 
ment iii my Proceedings of being fo zealous 
againfl his Majefty and Government ; and the 
Penance enjoined me was, to fay every Day a Li- 
tany, for the Interceffion, and Conversion of 
England-, but, if I did twice a Day fay the faid 
Litany, then (hould I each Day redeem a Soul 
out of Purgatory, But I have heard my Ghoftly 
Father fay, that fome Catholicks had their Indulge 
encies for Fifty Thousand Tears, others a Plenary 
Indulgence to encourage them to be firmer to this 
Defign. Such a Plenary Indulgence I did fee in 
the Hands of Mr. Mowbray, about the latter 
End of January, 1676-7. And the Litany of In- 
tercession for England is as follows : 



n 2 The 



548 



The Litany of Intercession for En gland, 



Lord have Mercy on us, 

Christ hear us, 
Chritl have Mercy on us, 
Lord have Mercy on us, 

Christ hear us, 
O Father of Mercy, and God of all Con^ 

folation, 

Have Mercy on England. 
O Son Redeemer of the World, and of all 

Things in Heaven and Earth, the Pacifier, 

Have Mercy, &c. 
Holy Mary, Mother of God, and Mother cf 

Mercy, 

Tray for England. 
Holy Mary, who haft deftroyed all Herefies, 

'pray, &c. 
Holy Virgin of Virgins, famous in England 'for 

many Miracles, pray, &c, 
St. Michael, Prince of the Church, pray, 

&c. 
St. Gabriel, privy to the Myfteries of God, 

pray, £s?c. 
St. Raphael, faithful Guide of Travellers, 

pray, &c. 
Holy Angel, Prince of England, pray, &c. 

St, 






549 

St. John Baptist , Mailer and Form of Pen- 
ance, pray, &c. 
All Holy Patriarchs and Prophets^ Friends of 

God and Preachers of Truth, pray, &c. 
St. Peter, Paftor of Sheep, and Prince of the 

Apoftles, pray, &c. 
St. Paul, Doctor of the Gentiles in Faith and 

Verity, pray, &?c. 
St. Andrew, Friend and Lover of the Crofs, 

pray, &c. 
All Holy Apoftles and Evangelifts, and fpe- 

cial Increafers of Christianity, Faith and 

Unity, pray, &c. 
All Holy Innocents Hain for Christ, pray, &fo 
St. Stephen, pray, &c. 
St. Lucius, King, pray, &c % 
St. Alban, pray, &c. 
St. Amphibale, pray, Sffc. 
St. Sophias, pray, &c. 
St. George, pray, &c* 
St. German, pray, &fc. 
St. Coleman, pray, &c. 
St. Kylian, pray, &c. 
St. Adrian, pray, Sffc. 
St. E their ed, King, pray, &c. 
St. Tancon, pray, &c* 
St. Isenger, pray, £s?c. 
St. Edmund, King, pray, 6?c. 
St. Edward, King, pray, t£c. 
St. Thomas of Canterbury, pray, &c* 

N3 Ai! 



550 



All holy Martyrs of England, Scotland, and 

Ireland, pray, &c. 
St. Fugatius and Damianus, pray, &c. 
St. Gregory and St. Augustine, pray, &c. 
St, Ethelbert, King, pray, &c. 
Sr. Patrick and St. Columbe, pray, &c. 
St. Pethno and St. Cuthbert, pray, &c. 
St. Furseus and St. Malachy, pray, &c 
St. John and St. David, pray, &c- 
Sr. Brandon and St. Fiaker, pray, &c. 
Sr. Archibald and Sr. Macarius, pray, &c. 
St. Marianus and St. Alexander, pray, &c* 
St. Bennet, St. Boniface, and St. Bede,pray, &c. 
St. Dunstan, St. Henry, and St. Robert, pray, 

&c. 
St. Richard, St. Roger, and St. Hugh, pray, 

&c. 
St. Gilbert, St. Lanfranck, and St. Anselm, 

pray, £5?c. 
Ail Holy Bifhops, and ConfefTors, of jErcg*- 

torf, Scotland, and Ireland, pray, &c. 
Sr. Helen, Queen, St. Ursula, and S:. Agnes, 

prey, &c. 
St. Bridgit, St. Bury en, and St. Tecla, pray, 

St. Agatha, St. Mechtil, and St. Maxentia, 

pray, &c. 
St. Christine and St. Winifred, pray, &c. 
St. Eihelred, Queen, and St. Marga ret, Queen, 

All 



551 



All Holy Virgins and Martyrs, of England, 

Scotland, and Ireland, pray, &c. 
All BleiTed and Holy Saints of Places, pray, 

GPc. 
Be merciful, Spare England Good Lord. 
Be merciful, Hear us O Lord. 

From all imminent Perils of Sins, and Back^ 

Hidings, 

Deliver England, o Lord. 
From the Spirit of Pride and Apoftacy, deliver^ 

Bed 
From the Spirit of Ambition, deliver, &c. 
From the Spirit of Rebellion, deliver, &c 6 
From all Hardnefs and Blindnefs of Heart, 

deliver, &c* 
From ail Surfetting and Drunkennefs, deliver, 

he. 
From the Defires and Liberty of the Flem, 

deliver, he. 
From Hatred, Contempt, and Neglect of 

facred Things, deliver, &c* 
From prophaning of Churches, and from all 

Sacriledge, deliver, &c. 
From the Tyranny and Cruelty of Hereticks, 

which it now groans under, deliver, &c. 
From wicked and pernicious Councils, deliver, 

he. 



m 



552 

We Sinners, God of Pity, do beseeck Thee 
to hear us. 

That thou would ft diftft the Pope's Holinefs, 
and all Prelates, to pacify and govern the 
Church. 

Lord, we beseech thee hear us. 

That thou would'ft be pleafed to bring again 
into this Kingdom the antient Catholick, 
Apoftolick, and Roman Faith, Lord, 
&€. 

That thou would'ft put into the Hearts of 
all Christian Kings and Piinces, Unity, 
Peace, and Concord ; and that their fer- 
vent Zeal may be ftirred up, to put 
their helping Hands to reduce it to the 
Obedience of the Holy See of Rome, 
O Lord, &x. 

That thou wouldft comfort, and fortify, all 
fuch as fuffer Imprifonment, Lofs of Goods, 
or other Affliction, for the Catholick 
Faith, Lord, &c. 

That neither by Frailty or Enticements, or 
any Torments, thou permit any of us to 
fall trom thee, o Lord, &c. 

That thou wouldft give us perfect Patience 
in our Afflictions, and to make Ghoftly 
Profit of all our Miferies, 

o Lord, &c. 

That thou wouldft mercifully haften the Con- 
vert on of Eng!and y Scotland, and Ireland ; 

from 



553 

from the Infection of Herefy and In. 
fidelity, o Lord, &c. 

That thou wouldft deliver and keep in thefe 
Times of Perfecution, the Pallors of our 
Souls, from the Hands of their Ene- 
mies, o Lord, &c. 

That thou wouldft daily augment in them 
the Fire of thy Love, and the Zeal of 
gaining Souls, o Lord, &c. 

That thou wouldft preferve all the Catholicks 
of this Land in Holinefs of Life, and 
from all Manner of Sin and Scandal, 

o Lord, &c. 

That thou wouldft fo adorn us with Holinefs 
of Life and Converfation, that our Ene- 
mies seeing our good Works, may glorify thee 
our heavenly Father, o Lord, &c. 

That thou wouldft reduce from Error, and 
Herefy, our Parents, Friends and Benefact- 
ors, whom thou haft fo dearly bought with 
thy precious Blood, o Lord, Sec. 

That thou wouldft illuminate the Hearts ofali 
Schifmaticks, which live out of the Church, 
to fee the grievous Danger of their Eftate, 

o Lord, &c. 

That thou wouldft mercifully look-down from 
Heaven, upon the Blood of fo many Martyrs, 
as have given their Lives to convert us unto 
thee, o Lord, Sec. 

Jesus 



554 

Jesus Christ, Son of God, and of the Virgin 

Mary y We beseech thee to hear us, 

Jesus Christy Saviour and Redemer of the 

World We beseech, he. 

Lamb of God, that takeft away the Sins of 

the World, Spare us, o Lord. 

Lamb of God that takeft away the Sins of 

the World, .Hearus, o Lord. 

Lamb of God that takeft away the Sins of 

the World ; Have Mercy on us. 

Lord have Mercy, Pater noster, &c. 

Chrift have Mercy, Et ne nos inducas, &c. 
Lord have Mercy, Sed libera nos a malo* 



About the latter End of October, or the 
Beginning of November, 167, my Occafions 
called me to Zeeds- Market/ within four Miles 
of my Habitation, and a Market that I fre- 
quently ufed : After my particular Bufinefs was 
done., my Curiofky led me to go, as usually I did, 
to a CofTee-Houfe ; where, amongft other News 
and Reports, I heard that one Sir Edmundbury 
Godfrey, a Juftice of Peace at London, was 
miffing, and that it was fufpected and feared, 
that he was murthered, or made- away, by the 
Papists. 

At my Return home, I repaired to Sir 
Thomas Gascoigne's Houfe at Barmbow, one 

Quarter 



555 

Quarter of a Mile from my Houfr, and there 
meeting his Son Thomas Gascoigne, Efq; I 
acquainted him with the^ News I heard at 
Leeds. 

Who thereupon took a Letter out of his 
Pocket directed to himfelf, which he (hewed 
me ; which Letter was fubcribed L Corker, 
wherein he acquainted the Efquire in Words to 
this Effect : That Sir Edmundbury Godfrey, 
had been a very busy Man, and a great Enemy 
to the Catholicks ; therefore ilwy had 'procured 
him to be destroyed. 

And fome few Days after we had the fame 
Thing confirmed in Print, viz. That he was 
rnurthered. Upon which, my Ghoflly Father 
William Rushton, fent for me,- to come to Mafs 
at Sir Thomas Gascoigne's Houfe ; and at 
Confeffion, did charge me to give-out. That I 
heard, that Sir Edmundbury Godfrey was a 
melancholy Gentleman, and in a Discontent 
went into the Fields, and there murdered him- 
self with his own Sword. 

Which accordingly I did, as Occafion offer'd, 
in all Companies I happened into ; but was con- 
tradicted by many ; and by fome, that it could 
not be, for, that his Neck was broke, which 
he could not do after he had murdered himfelf; 
nor be capable to do it, if his Neck was broke 
before : And, being thus run-down in my 
AfTertions, I acquainted my faid Ghoflly Father, 

William 



556 

William Rush.toriy therewith, who told me, he 
had received new I nft ructions, which he (hew'd 
me in Writing, and were to this Effecl : 

That Sir Edmundbury Godfrey was a Gentle- 
man who had often attempted to deftroy him- 
felf; that he did really hang himfelf in his own 
Silk-girdle, in his Chamber at the Bed's Feet 5 
which being difcovered, two of his Servants ac- 
quainted his Brothers therewith ; who, coming 
thither, contrived his taking-down, and the 
carrying him to the Place where he was found; 
where they run his Corps through, on Pur- 
pofe to throw it on the Papists, thereby to 
fave the Eftate to themfelves, and from being 
forfeited to the King: And that the two Ser- 
vants had Fifty Pounds a-piece given them to 
keep it private. He alio faid, that one of them, 
which was a Maidservant, did offer to difcover 
this Contrivance to his Majefty and Council, 
but that (he was by them rejected : Nevenhe* 
lefs, for all this, at the fame Time, Rushton 
did own to me, that he was murthered by the 
Papists, but by what Hands he knew not ; and 
further, he feemed much concerned that it was 
done ; wifhing it had never been done, becaufe 
it would make the Murther of the King the 
N. b. more difficult to be performed. 

Roheit Bolron. 



It O M E 

A GREAT 

€mtom i^ouse for &tou 

OR, 

A TABLE of the DISPENSATIONS and PJR~ 
DONS for Villainies and Wickedneffes of various 
Kinds, &e. With the feveral Sums of Money 
given, and to be paid for them. 

THE FIFTH EDITION. 



BY ANTHONY EGANE, B.D. 



Sometimes Confeflbr-General of the Kingdom of 

IRELAND? who was both a Spectator of, and 

Actor in, thofe horrible Abufes, before his Converfion 

to the Proteftant Religion. 
And now Reprinted for the Benefit of fuch, as either 

have themfelves, or would induce others to 'have, 

too favourable Thoughts of Popery. 
To which is now added an earneft Difiuafive from 

Romifh Idolatry and Superstition: wherein other 

Grofs Enormities are clearly detected. 

LONDON: 
Printed for John Marshall, at the Bible in Gracechurch- 
Street, Joseph Marshall, at the Bille in Newgate- 
Street, and Ferd, Burleigh in Amen Corner. 1/15. 



I 



558 



TO THE READER, 



THE following TABLE having been formerly 
published by one, who a great Part of his Life y 
wandered in the dark Mists and Fogs of Popery; 
and ivas (as he himself assures us) both a Spec- 
tator of and Actor in, those horrible Abuses, 
which he there exposed to public View: now 
ventures to come-forth again, in Hopes of pro- 
ducing the same good Effects, which the Author, 
(come to himself) proposed in itsjirst Publication, 

1 think it can never be unseasonable to expose 
a Religion so destructive of the Peace and 
Happiness of Societies ; so derogatory to the 
Glory of God; so contrary to the main End and 
Purpose of Christianity ; and that persecutes 
with such an unrelenting Barbarity (where it 
can) those that have the Courage and Honesty 
to oppose its Innovations. 

There is therefore, in this Edition, added, 

by way of Appendix, an Earnest Dissuasive 

from Popery,, as a farther Antidote against 

the Poison of its pernicious Principles and 

Practices. 

Take 



559 



Take in good Part, Reader, what is here 
offered thee; and, if in any thing thou shah 
receive Satisfaction and Advantage, let God 
have the Glory, and the Editor thy Prayers. 



THF 



560 
THE AUTHORS 

PREFACE 



1 HOPE you (that read this) will be fo charitable as to 
believe it is neither Gain nor Advantage hath invited 
me to lay-open this Warehoufe, and thus to publifh 
the Merchandize of the Popim-Market; nor any hope 
thereby of fupporting my own Interefl (fince I know 
well enough how many Enemies a Work of this Na- 
ture will make me among fome Men) it being only to 
let the World fee that the Abufes that were long fince 
difcovered in the Pope's Difpenfations, are yet tlill in 
being; as is vifible enough by the Rules and Imports 
of their Chancery, being neither imaginary, nor yet 
forged upon the Anvil of Malice, as fome Perfons will 
be ready to perfuade thofe poor Souls, who never had 
any Knowledge of the Corruptions of the Court of 
ROME, nor of the Nature of its Traffick. A great 
Part of thefe Papers I cannot command at prefent, by 
reafon of my Abfence from my native Country, or elfe 
I would have inferted them all ; which would have 
farther laid-open their abominable Practices ; though 
perhaps this may be sufficient (if not too much) in fo 
naufeous a Subject. The Papifts, without doubt, will 
difown it, and fay that this is a mere Fiction, and that 
fuch Things are not practifed in their Church: but I 
am ready to prove, by my own Knowledge and Expe- 
rience, all I here alledge to be true, and able to make 
good, that, as all the Arts of Man could not have 

invented 



561 

Invented more grofs or villainous Sins than the Popim 
Clergy do put to Sale $ that none but thofe Shrine- 
makers who maintain their wordly Pomp and Great- 
nefs by fuch Handicrafts, could have invented fuch a 
Way of wiping out Sins fo deftructive to a good Life, 
and the main Defign of the Chriftian Religion; fo if 
you will but examine, and ferioufly confider the Par- 
ticulars, you will eafily be convinced that none but 
themfelves could be the Authors of it. I can fafely 
fay that there are Hundreds even of the ordinary 
Priefts, that know not what it Means, becaufe that 
thefe Arcana Imperil are always kept close from them, 
and reserved on purpofe for certain Perfons called 
Apoftolical Poenitentiaries, to whom the Abfolution 
of particular and heinous Sins is committed % (as it 
was to myfelf in Ireland within thefe few Years) and 
of such Perfons, there may be one or two in every 
County or Diocefs, who, before they receive that 
Power, mud take an Oath of Secrecy never to reveal 
the Myfteries of their Church, but to keep them 
from the Knowledge not only of the Laiety, but alfo of 
the ordinary Priefts and Friars, and efpccially from any 
Man that is fufpecled to be of fo acute Parts, or of fo 
much Learning or Honefty as might make him fcrupie 
their Authority: And neither may it perhaps have 
come to the Knowledge of fome half-witted Fellows, 
who, either for Lucre, or Liberty, neither ftick to 
the one Religion nor the other y of which Sort of People 
we have divers amongft us in this Kingdom, whofe 
Names are not worth the mentioning by either Party ; 
but as to thofe Sins commonly called referved Caufes, 
if any Man {hall acknowledge himielf guilty of any 
fuch, in Confeffion to an ordinary Confeffor, he can 
2 o only 



562 

*$nly tell him where the Pope's Bankers refide^ who 
are to abfolve him, and will gladly receive him, fo he 
bring with him the Price of his Sin, and this great 
Pcenitentiary is thereupon to procure a BULL of In- 
dulgence and Pardon for all wicked Perfons offending 
in the Caufes here fet-down, and divers others* 

I would have faid more upon this Subject, and fet- 
forth more of their Cheats and Artifices; but I hope, 
within fome Time, to be at more Leifure, and to have 
better Opportunities of fetting-forth their Pranks and 
Policies to the View of the World. 

I (hall now only beg of you to am ft me with your 
Prayers for the Converiion of thofe Mifcreants who have 
fo highly deferved God's juft Indignation ; fince there 
is no greater Sign of his Anger, than when he flrikes 
Men with fuch Blindnefs of Underftanding, that they 
take for Oracles whatever the Juggling Priefts have in- 
vented for their own unlawful Gain, and, as it were, 
make a Mockery of God himfelf \ — Men, who can 
fcaree be believed to have any Hopes, or Thoughts, of a 
Life after this. I humbly fubmit this Treatife to the 
Judgement of the kind Reader; and, if he think the 
Pains I have taken may any way ferve to demonftrate 
to the World the Enormities of the Court and Church 
of ROME, and perhaps convert fome that are drunk 
with its Cup of Abomination ; I mail then red fatisfied 
that I have not ill employed my Time. 1 pray God 
to continue amongfi us the Purity of his Gofpel, and 
preferve our Clergy from the Sin of Covetoufne^s, that 
fpirituai Idolatry, which flrft debafed the Church of 
Chrifi. from its primitive Purity ; that fo we may more 
effectually convince, if polTible, thofe poor deluded 
Creatures, v. ho are fold as Slaves to this SnccefTor 

rather 



563 

rather of Simon Magus, than Peter, and unveil the 
Darknefs of his Kingdom ; which God of his infinite 
Mercy and Goodnefs grant, according to the hearty 
Prayers of 

Your Servant, in Chrift, 

ANT HO. EGANE. 



202 CERTAIN 



564 

CERTAIN 

Decreed Impositions 

OF 

%\)t Chancer? Court 

or THE 

Church of ROME. 



Of Marriage. 

IMPRIMIS, &. $. d, 

THEY that Marry in the fourth Degree, 
must pay for a Dispensation the sum of 02 04 00 

They that have committed Fornication in 
the Fourth Degree, notwithstanding their 
Consanguinity which they well know, shall 
pay — — — 30 00 00 

For legitimating of Children that shall be 
born of a Conjunction in the fourth Degree 19 00 10 

Those that have contracted Matrimony in 
the fourth Degree, and being ignorant of 
their Consanguinity, and after being sensible 
of their Relation, having carnally accomplish- 
ed their Marriage, must pay for their Dispen- 
sation — — — 27 00 0§ 

They who have carnally sinned in the fourth 
Degree, benig ignorant of their Consanguini- 
ty, their Dispensation is — — 16 00 06 

For such as have been sensible of their 
own Consanguinity in the fourth Degree, and 
nevertheless contracted in Marriage, tho' not 
consummated, their Dispensation is — 39 00 10 

But 



565 

But if that Marriage be consummated and 
carnally accomplished, you are to agree with, 
the Prelate, for legitimating of such Chil- 
dren as were born before a Divorce given by 
the Ordinary, at the request, or unanimous 
consent of both Parties ■, the Dispensation is 09 00 10 

A Marriage in thejifth Degree. 

WHether it be of Consanguinity or Af- 
finity, is dispensed for the Sum of 40 00 04 

Besides the gratifying of the Prelate for a 
Marriage in the second Degree, whether it 
be for Consanguinity or Affinity, the Pope 
himself or his particular Emissary, is to give 
the Dispensation for — — 100 15 0§ 

The Dispensation of Marriage in the first 
Degree of Affinity, is made only in Con- 
science, yet you are to pay, or according to 
the ability of the Party — 1000 02 05 

A Dispensation for Gossips. 

FOR such as are of a Spiritual Affinity and 
shall be contracted in Marriage 17 00 09 

In all other Causes belonging to Gossips, 
none but the Pope or his publick Penitentiary 
sede vacante dispensis jur. — — 59 00 03 

If an Adulterer or a married Man seeks his 
Wife's Destruction, he cannot obtain any Dis- 
pensation to marry another: but, if he hath 
contracted Marriage, and that the Matter be 
kept secret, he is to be dispensed- with in 
Conscience ; but he shall pay — ZQ 01 00 

If a married Man attempts to kill his Wife, 
and effects it not, and hath not promised Mar- 
riage to another, he may have a Dispensation 
to marry another, after the Death of the first 
for — — — 29 05 09 

If a married Man before the Death of his 
married Wife, marries another being ignorant 
of the first Marriage, if it so happens that the 
first Wife dieth, he shall take to him the se- 
cond, provided the Ceremony of Marriage be 

3 o 3 renewed 5 



566 



renewed ; and he cannot be Divorced, with- 
out the consent of his Wife, who was igno- 
rantly Married, or contracted, unto him before, 
and then the Dispensation shall cost — 1Q 02 0$ 

If a Man who has been a long while ab- 
sent, supposeth that his Wife is dead, and he 
Marrieth another, and liveth with his second 
as with his married, during the time he sup- 
posed his former to be dead : But if his first 
Wife shall happen to come again, he shall 
forsake the second and live with the first ; but 
he shall pay for his Transgressions — 29 02 0^ 

A Dispensation for such as have Vowed 
Chastity during life is given only by the Pope 
or by some extraordinary great Prelate - } but 
it shall cost — — 1& 05 06 

He that hath Vowed to be a Monk, so that 
the Vow be not solemn, he may be dispensed 
with according to Conscience for — 15 04 Cl 

But, if in his Dispensation be added this 
Clause, ei that if this Wife die, he shall be 
obliged to keep his Vow," yet hemay have a 
Dispensation to marry again for — 27 03 06 

If a man who hath taken Holy Orders 
(provided it be kept secret) happens to Marry, 
he may have a Dispensation for keeping his 
"Wife as long as she lives, provided that be shall 
not Marry again after her decease ; only he 
shall S3y bis Divine Office upon Festival Days, 
and that by way of Satisfaction, and he must 
also pay for his Dispensation — 35 04 CO 



The Dispensation for Jews. 

Dispensation for a Jew, for having a 
Synagogue in his own House, shall cost 300 01 C6 
For Erecting a new publick Synagogue 
must be paid — — 603 15 00 

A Jtw that will be authorized to practise 
Pbysick, or Chirurgtry, with the Clause of 
Assistance, must pay — = — 60 15 00 



hhpensations 



22 


03 


05 


Id 


02 


00 


32 


00 


00 


Id 


00 


00 


32 


02 


00 


IS 


00 


00 



56' 



Dispensations on the Age of those that take Orders, 

A 'Child at six Years old shall pay for his 
Clerkship, and" first Matriculation 19 02 04 

• A Youth of sixteen shall pay, for his be- 
ing made Sub- Deacon, the Sum of — 

At seventeen Years — — 

For being made Deacon at the age of 
eighteen — — — - 

At nineteen for the same — — 

For being Ordained Priest at two and twenty 
At four and twenty for the same — 

To take Orders, where, when, of ivhom, and in 
iv hat number, one pleaseth. 

TO take Orders from any other but his 
own Bishop, the first Clerkship and the 
four small Orders is — — 14 01 00 

To take, according to a Man's Will, one, 
two, or all the Orders, must be paid — 

For taking Orders, except in Ember week, 

For taking Orders from such as have Au- 
thority to use Benediction from an Abbot 

From a Bishop -*- — 

Dispensation for such as are Defective, or be~, 
witched, in any of the Members of their Bodies^ 
in order to take Orders, 

FOR a Man that wants any Member of his 
Body, if he takes Clerkship, as to the 
four small Orders — — 36 02 00 

For him to be admitted to Orders of higher 
degree, must be paid the Sum of . — 4(3 02 OQ 

If he hath lost one or more of his Fingers, 
a Dispensation for holding a Benefice shall 
cost him — — — 52 03 CG 

But if he hath almost lost his left Eye, he 
must pay — — — 40 CO OQ 

2 o 4 Yet 



32 02 


10 


10 02 


10 


34 02 


00 


24 00 


00- 



56S 



Yet with a Proviso, that he holds his 
Book, or a sheet of Paper containing the Ca- 
non of the Mass, on the Middle of the Altar; 
bat if he hath lost both his Eyes, or one of 
his Stones, he must pay — . 56 02 00 

But if he be deprived of all his Privy- 
members, he must may — 112 03 0$ 

For such as have taken Orders legally as they 
ought to have done. 

TOR those that shall take Orders under 



Age, the Dispensation shall cost 07 02 03 

For the Irregularity of one that hath taken 
Orders from any other Bishop but his own 
Diocesan, without leave from his Prelate, 
must pay for his Dispensation — 0/ 02 03 

If a Bull carries a Retention of a Benefice, 
the Dispensation shall cost — 13 03 08 

For him who hath taken Orders unlawfully, 
it will cost — — 07 02 03 

And if there be a Retention of a Benefice, 
he must pay — — 15 o3 03 

For a man who by the Collection of a full 
Tenth, was admitted into Orders, that is to 
say, without taking or bringing Credible 
Witnesses to aver the Truth, his Dispensation 
shall cost — — 07 02 02 

For one who by express Orders, renounc- 
eth the Orders of a Deacon, or Sub-Deacon, 
which were before conferred upon him, he 
is to pay — — — 12 03 07 

He that in one and the same Day hath taken 
two, or more Orders, to the end he may im- 
mediately officiate, shall pay for his Dispen- 
sation — — — 06 02 00 

Dispensations for such as are employed in the 
Service of the Church without taking Orders* 



IF any one being neither Deacon nor Sub- 
Deacon, exercise such an Office, he must 

pay — — — • 



12 03 05 

And 



569 



And if he hath a Bull for a Benefice, he is 
to pay — — — IS 04 09 

If any one who is not a Priest shall take 
upon himself to say Mass, or to Administer 
the Sacraments ; if he intend to take Orders 
afterward, his Dispensation shall cost 36 OQ 06 



Dispensations for Bastards. 

FOR admitting a Bastard after the old man- 
ner to holy Orders j and to capacitate 
him to hold a Living, wherein is a Cure of 
Souls, he pays — — 05 01 01 

And if that the Clause of impowering him 
to change his Benefice be added, he is to pay 07 07 03 

If a Bastard, knowing himself to be so, af- 
terwards shall take Orders, he. must pay 

If he change his Benefice, he is to pay 

If he changeth two, he is to pay — 

If three — — 

But if he officiate in the Behalf of his Fa- 
ther, present or absent, he must pay 07 02 00 

And if he be a Bastard found by chance, he 
pays — — — 06 02 00 

Dispensations for Monks 9 Bastards* 

Dispensations Prized. 

FOR a Mendicant's Bastard turning Monk, 
his Dispensation is — — 06 02 08 

For a Mendicant to be made Provincial of 
an Order, or first Guardian, or capacitated to 
any other Dignity : If Monks that have Re- 
venues, and not Minors or Mendicants, tKey 
may have a Dispensation for as high as an 
Abbot, for — — 01 01 00 



Dispensations 



07 


07 


03 


06 


02 


00 


12 


04 


00 


18 


04 


06 



570 



Dispensations for such a Person as was once 
Married, and at the second took a Virgin to 
his Wife. 

FOR a Man who hath been once Married, 
he may after her decease be admitted in- 
to Orders, paying for his Dispensation 06 02 00 

And, if he will enjoy Privileges, he must pay 02 Og QQ 



Dispensation for Persons that have had two 

Wives. 

A Man that hath been twice married shall 
be admitted to his first Clerkship, or to 
the four small Orders, paying for his Dispen- 
sation — — — 12 03 04 



For the Apostolical Chamber. 

BUT if in his Bull is added this Clause, if 
he chance to Marry again, he shall pay 18 04 09 

And if the Bull contain this Clause, if it 
happen he hath already had two Wives and 
that he shall marry the third, he shall pay 05 04 08 

And if this Bull for a Man that hath had 
two Wives and is a Widower, dispenses with 
him to have or to keep one simple Benefice, 
fee shall pay, besides the aforesaid Tax., 24- OQ 00 

He that being married, and conceals that 
be had two Wives, and yet takes his first 
Clerkship, must pay — — 21 05 06 

A Knight that hath had two Wives, and 
after being a Widower, if he enters into the 
four first Orders, he shall pay for his Dispen- 
sation — — — - 12 03 06 

A Man having had two Wives, having al- 
ready procured his Dispensation from the 
Pope, to enter into Orders and to officiate the 
Place of a Canon, may yet have a Faculty for 
two equal Benefices, paying only - 24 03 00 



Pardons 



571 



Pardons and Dispensations for Soldiers, 

HE that being a Soldier for the Catholick 
Cause, and neither kills nor Wounds 
any in War, nor causeth any to do it, is to 
pay — — - 36 09 OO 

All Priests who have assisted at the Judg- 
ment, or given their Advice in Writing in 
any Criminal Cause, shall pay each Person 36 €9 00 

If any Man shall strike a Clerk or Priest, 
he shall pay the full Sum of — 05 02 03 

But if an Abbot or Prelate, it must be J 2 03 Q§ 

If any Man shall strike a Bishop, or such an 
extraordinary great Prelate, it must be 24 06 CO 

Dispensations for If minding Persons. 

HE that Wounds any one of the Clergy 
in any of his Members., his Pardon and 
Dispensation shall cost — i8 04 Og 

But if it be a simple Pardon without Dis- 
pensation it will cost — — c6 C2 CD 

He that Wounds an Abbot or Principal 
Person of any Order, must pay * — OS 00 .00 

If a Bishop, it shall be — 13 00 CO 

But if one Lay-Man Wounds another, he 
15 Pardoned for — — 00 00 06 

Dispensations for Murders or wilful Homicides. 

A Murderer having taken Iris fir^t OrcWs, 
can have a Dispensation tor holding' one 
simple Benefice ; arch if that be not stuikient. 
he may have tWQ or three ; hiring bis Pardon 
for 1 he Murder he hath committed, for 12 05 OS 

But, if he will have the Privilege of the 
Clergy, he must pay — IS 04 00 

If it be with the Inhibitory Clause, it will 
cost — — ~- 30 0/ OS 

T<*. 



57& 



To have a Dispensation for holding; three 
Benefices, except the Bull runs so that he 
may hold as many Benefices as he stands in 
need of, he is to pay — — 01 IS 02 

Bat if he hath she Bull to his advantage, he 
pays — — — 24 06 00 

But, if a Person, being wounded, dyeth 
not of the Blow that he hath received, but 
thro' want of good Attendance or the like, 
or, if he that gave the wound intended not 
to kill him $ he may have a Dispensation for 
the Older of Priesthood, and hold Ecclesiasti- 
cal Benefices, for — — Sr3 0$ CO 

The Dispensation of a Murder perpetrated 
by a Bishop or Abbot j or by the chief of 
an Order or Knight, it shall cost — 50 12 06 

If a Friar, or Guardian of a Monastery, kills 
a Man, it will be -— — 40 09 00 

A wilful Murderer, having already taken 
Orders, was before dispensed-withal to sing 
a Hail Mary in the Church ; if he has Power 
innpovvered to hold an Ecclesiastical Benefice, 
be is to pay — — 36 09 00 

But if there be many accessary to the 
Murder, every two are to pay amongst 
them — — — 50 12 0^ 

If one be found guilty of many Murders, 
in the same Time and Quarrel; he is to pay 
for bis Dispensation - - 3& 09 00 

If far several Quarrels, he must pay 
double — — — 50 12 00 

For an Ordinary Man who hath commit- 
ted Murder, is rated at Will, according to the 
Circumstances of the Place and Time, and as 
the Prelates shall think lit. 



Dispensations for accidental Murders. 



1 



For a Clerk. 

F one would have a pardon, ad Cautelam 
as they term it, it will cost — IS 04 09 

If he that hath killed a man, did use his 

Endeavour* 



573 



Endeavours to avoid it, but was forced to 

the Fact in se defendendo, he shall pay but 36 07 0$ 

If a m3n happen to be Murthered acci- 
dentally, the Murtherer is to pay for his Dis- 
pensation — - — — Op 03 06 

If a Clerk of the Church hath killed one 
in his own Defence, he must pay for his Dis- 
pensation — — 06 02 00 

And if the Clause of Assistance be in it, it 
will cost — — — 12 04 00 

If it be for a Cautela, or for Assurance for 
the future, he shall pay — — 21 04 0$ 

But if it be with the Inhibitory Clause, 
its price is — — 36 Og 00 

For a Murder perpetrated in the Defence 
of another, a Dispensation for saying Mass, 
for — — — 30 07 05 

Dispensations and Pardons for Bishops or 
Abbots, or such Prelates ; for wilful Murders, 
are — - — — 50 12 06 

For Priests and ordinary Clergymen 40 10 GO 

For Murtherer s of Priests* 

A Lay-Man, having murthered a Priest, 
shall be pardoned for — QQ 02 00 

A simple Clerk, or Priest, or one who hath 
taken Orders, shall pay, if he be interdicted 
from exercising his Function, — QQ 02 GO 

If there be a Ptabble, or a number of 
People, when a Murder is committed, the 
Chief shall pay a whole Tax, and the rest 
half. 

If one Man in the same Time kills more 
than one Priest in the same Quarrel, he must 
pay for his Pardon — — 06 OQ 03 

But, if he hath killed many Priests at se- 
veral Times, he shall pay a whole Tax to the 
first, and a half for the rest. 

If he who hath killed a Priest desires to be 
pardoned, and would change his publick 
Penance to a private, he shall pay — IS 01 Ofj 

He 



57-t 



He that kills a Bishop or any other Prelate, 
must pay — — 36 Q9 00 

He that having killei a Priest, if he holds 
hts Benefice, mast pay for his Dispensation 02 02 00 

Dispensations for such as have killed Lay-Men* 

FOR murthering a Lay- Man, the Dispen- 
sation is — — C3 02 04 

Bat if one hath killed many Lay-men m 
one Quarrel, he is raxed bat for one, and his 
Dispensation is according to the Confessor's 
Discretion — — 04 01 08 



Dispensations for Parricides* 

MUrthers committed on the Persons of 
Father, Mother, Brother, or Sister, 
each Person's Dispensation will cost — 04 01 0$ 

If any Person killed or murthered his own 
"Wife, it shall be rated a3 that of Parricide, 
«fz. — — — 04 01 08 

And if he who hath murdered his own 
Wife, and marrieth another, his Dispensation 
is — — — 03 02 09 

And if those who have assisted the Hus» 
band in the Murthering, are included in the 
Pardon 4l Dispensation, the Tax is 02 00 00 

Dispensations for such as have killed their own 
Children* 

IF either Father or Mother, Sister or Bro- 
ther, do strangle or smother an Infant, 
they are to pay — — 04? 02 00 

But if a Stranger that hath murthered an 
Infant, he pays as far as a Lay-man, viz. 03 02 04 

But if the Father and Mother do strangle 
the Infant of an unanimous Consent, they 
tnust pay — — — 06 02 00 

Dispensations 



57: 



Dispensations for Women that Miscarry* 

SHE that takes any Potion to destroy the 
Fruits of her Womb, or the Father who 
causeth his Wife to take the same, they are 
to pay — — — 04 01 08 

But if a Stranger that giveth the Potion, 
he shall pay — — 04 Ql 03 

Dispensations for Wizards and Sorcerers, 

A Witch or Inchantress, at her Abjuration 
made: of her Sorcery and Inchantments, 
shall pay — — Ot> 02 00 

And if she followeth the same Trade, after 
Abjuration, she shall pay — 1 2 04 00 



Dispensations for Herelicks. 

A Pardon and Rehabilitation of a Here- 
tick, drawn in an ample Form ; with 
the Inhibitory Clause before he had made 
Abjuration, is — — 36 09 00 

If he be a Lay-Man, and that the Bull 
containeth an Absolution of Infamy, he is 
to pay — — — 12 03 06 

And if the Inhibitory Clause be added, he 
is to pay more — — 12 00 00 



Dispensations for Church-Robbers, Thieves* 
Incendiaries, Plunderers, Ravishers, Perjur- 
ers, &c. 

A Pardon and Rehabilitation for any of 
these Crimes, with the Inhibitory Clause, 
will cost — — 36 GQ 00 

For Simony. A simple Absolution for a 
Simonist, let him be either Secular or Regu- 
lar, is - - - 36 C9 CO 

But 



576 

But if the Dispensation be for Irregularity 
and that it will capacitate the Person to re- 
ceive Holy Orders, and to hold Church Bene- 
fices, he must add — — 06 02 00 

And if the Dispensation be to officiate 
in other Benefices, besides those which he 
hath acquired by Simony, he is to agree 
with the Ordinary, and if the Simonist re- 
quires his Pardon, it is dispensed according 
to the Discretion of the Confessor ; with an 
Authority to keep his Benefices which he got 
by Simony, whether he hath already obtained 
the Profits or no, with the clause nullis only, 
he is to pay — — 03 0? 06 



Dispensations for Carnal Sins, or for all sorts 
of Whorings. 



A Priest, or Frier, having lain or carnally 
sinned with a woman of whatsoever sort 
or degree, whether a Nun or a Kinswoman, 
or a Relation, or with any other, whether 
married or single, whether within the bounds 
or Cloisters of his Monastery, or elsewhere $ 
whether the Absolution be made in the Name 
of the Clergy or no; it gives him Power to 
exercise his Function, and to hold his Liv- 
ings $ and that together with the Inhibitory 
Clause, is only — — 36 09 0§ 



A Dispensation for Buggery. 

A ND, if, besides this, there be an Absolu- 
JTjL lion for Buggery, or for unnatural bin 
committed with Brute-Beasts, a Dispensation 
together with the Inhibitory Clause, will come 

to — — — go 12 01 

A simple Absolution for the sin of Bug- 
gery, or the Sin contrary to Nature, that is to 
say, with Brute-Beasts, together with a Dis- 
pensation and the Inhibitory Clause, is 3(5 09 00 

A Nun having played the Whore very 
often intra aut extra septa Monasterii, is to 

be 



577 



be absolved, and rehabilitated to hold the Dig- 
nity of her Order, for — — 36 09 00 

An Absolution for one that keeps a Whore 
at Bed and Board, with a Dispensation to hold 
a Benefice, is — — 04 05 06 

For all acts of Whoring, or such dishonesty 
committed by a Layman, he is to be dispensed 
with for — — — 06 02 06 

A Layman having committed Incest, is to 
pay — — — 04 06 00 

A Layman having committed Adultery, 
is to be absolved for — — 04 00 00 

But if it be Adultery and Incest together, 
he is to pay — — 06 02 00 

For the Adulterer and Adulteress together, 
is — — - OQ 06 00 



Dispensations for Trespasses. 

HE that buries the Body of an excom- 
municated Man in any Sanctuary, must 
pay — — — 06 02 06 

A Licence for Irregularity with power to 
enjoy a Benefice, is — - 09 02 00 

And if be keeps all that he had already ob- 
tained, it is — — - - 12 03 09 

For him that conceals the death of ano- 
ther, Lucri Gratia — 09 02 00 

A Priest having ignorantly said Mass in a 
prohibited Place — — 06 02 00 

But if he knew the Place to be prohibited, 
and that the Prohibition was by the Ordinary, 
he is to pay — — 

If by the Pope, he must pay — 

A Priest having made a clandestine Mar- 
riage, and said Mass in the Presence of the 
married Couple — — 

And every Layman that was then pre- 
sent ■*• — — 

2? 



OS 


02 


00 


12 


03 


06 


06 


00 


00 


03 


00 


00 
If 



578 



If any Man hinders the Execution of a 
Bull, 03 Apostolical Mandates, his Absolution 
will cost him - — 36 09 00 

And every one of his Assistants must pay 12 03 OQ 

A Merchant having brought Warlike Wea- 
pons among the Saracens, except he brings 
some profitable Goods back in exchange, he 
is to pay — — - 12 03 06 

But if he hath brought considerable Goods 
he is to agree with the Prelate. 

If a Servant retains the Goods of his de- 
ceased Master for his Wages, after being ad- 
vised to restore them, and will not, he is to 
be absolved for — — 06 02 00 

A Eishop having sworn to take a Voyage 
to S*. Peters in Rome, and never performed, 
he pays — — 12 03 06 

The Absolution of a spiritual Sentence of 
Excommunication given out by the Ordinary 0(5 02 06 

But if the said Sentence hath been given 
out of the Apostolical Seat, it must be 12 02 06 



Dispensations and Pardons for Irregularities. 



AN Absolution or a Dispensation for Ir- 
regularity, is — — 05 13 00 
And if there be a general Absolution for 
all Sins, it is — ■ — 08 ] g 00 

If the Irregularity hath been cause of giv- 
ing of Judgment in some criminal Matter of 
Fact, and that there was not an Absolution for 
the Fact, but only an Absolution for Infamy, 
with the Inhibitory Clause, it is only 03 07 00 

And if in the Bull be a Dispensation of 
Irregularity and License for a passing such 
Judgment afterwards as often as occasion did 
require ; and also Authority for being Advocate 
in Criminal Causes, it will cost — 45 00 00 

But if the Bull contains a general Absolu- 
tion for all Sins passed, or for Sins not yet 

committed 5 



579 



committed, and also for all sorts of Irregu- 
larities, it will cost — — 50 12 06 

He that is guilty of Irregularity bv reason 
of exercising the Profession of a Physician, 
must pay for the first Dispensation — 56 GO 00 

And, if the Bull alloweth him a Permission 
to follow his Profession in the future, shall pay 
more — — — 05 02 OS 



Dispensations for Burials. 

AN excommunicated Person deceased, or 
one that died a violent Death, his Ab- 
solution shall cost his Friends and Relations 05 02 00 

But, if the Body be buried in a Sanctuary, 
it will cost — — — 12 03 06 



Dispensations for changing and moderating of 
Punishments. 

A Simple Moderation of Banishment or 
perpetual Imprisonment, will cost 04 10 00 

The Moderation of Banishment from ten 
to fifteen Years, will cost — 36 Q9 00 

Or if (he Bull contains a Dispensation for 
Irregularity, and a Permission for exercising 
the Office of a Priest, it will cost — 50 12 06 

The simple Moderation of Banishment, or 
Imprisonment for ten Years, together with a 
simple Dispensation or Absolution of the 
Crime committed, will cost — 25 OfJ 00 

And if the Bull contains a Clause of Assist- 
ance, it will cost, besides the foregoing Tax, 03 00 00 

A Priest being suspended by his Ordinary 
from saying Mass, by reason of being troubled 
with the falling Sickness, must pay for his 
Absolution and Dispensation — Ob 02 06 

And his Bishop is to give him License to 
say Mass, with a Proviso of being always 
assisted by another Priest. 

2 p 2 Dispensations 



5S0 



Dispensation of Oaths* 

THE Dispensation of an Oath or Con- 
tract being given, to the end that one 
may not be driven or expelled from his Occa- 
sions or Employments, will be had for 07 02 OS 

But if the Bull doth contain the Inhibitory 
Clause, together with an Absolution of In- 
famy, it will cost — — 56 Og 06 

And if many are comprehended in the 
same Fact, every one of them must pay 03 00 00 

And if there be many Contracts for the 
same Thing and amongst the same Persons, 
for each Contract must be paid, besides the 
Ordinary Tax of the former — 03 00 00 

A Dispensation for one that hath sworn 
to take his Degrees, in one University, and 
neglected his Promise, so that he could not 
get his Degrees, his Tax will be — 06 02 00 

For an Oath that cannot be kept without 
incurring everlasting Damnation ; as for ex- 
ample, a dishonest Vow, or some wicked Pro- 
mise, the Dispensation will cost — 06 02 OQ 

And you must take notice, that there is 
difference between the Tax of a Bishop, Ab- 
bot, or General of an Order, and the Tax 
of ordinary Men ; for the Prelates are left to 
their Confessor's Discretion 



Dispensations for the changing of a Vow. 

A Man having vowed, but not solemnly, 
to take the Habit of some Order, or 
Religion, to the End he may change his Vow, 
he must have a Dispensation which is made 
in Conscience, it will cost but — 15 04 OG 

If a Man hath taken a Vow of Chastity 
solemnly, he is to have his Dispensation for 
not keeping his Vow, if need be, but he is 
to pay tae Prelate the Sum of — ] 5 04 00 

If 



581 



IF any Man, after taking an Oath of enter- 
ing into a religious Life, takes a Fancy to 
marry rather than to perform his Oath or 
proceed according to his Vow, lie is to be ab- 
solved dejure, only he must pay — 15 04 00 

And he shall be enjoined, in the Bull, to 
stand to his Vow in case he outlives his first 
Wife. 

For the prolonging of the Term of Vows, 
to go to the Holy Sepulchre, or to Saint Pe- 
ter's at Rome, provided there be a lawful Cause 
for it, yet a Dispensation will cost •*- OQ 02 Q§ 

If the Dispensation be for two Years, it 
will be but — -— 04 00 01 

For changing the Pilgrimage of the Sepul- 
chre for another, you must pay — 12 03 Ofj 

Besides gratifying the Prelate, to change one 
Vow for another, will cost — 06 02 0$ 

For getting a Priviledge from fasting or a 
Permission to wear another Habit, rather than 
the Habit of the Order wherein one took his 
Vow and made his Profession, is — 0$ 02 06 

If the Bull contains a great number, the 
first Man must pay a whole Tax, and every 
one of the rest a half. 

Bat if they are not related, and all of one 
House, every Man must pay the whole Tax, 
ut supra. 

But if it be for a Chapter, or Convent, or 
some great College ; and that the changing 
of the Vow, shall be for a Perpetuity, they 
must pay — — 100 00 0$ 



Dispensations for changing ike Hours of Prayers* 

npHE Knights of Malta, and such others, 
i. who would not be confined to any cer- 
tain Time nor Hour, but to be left to their 
own Pleasure, their Dispensation will cost 10 03 06 

A Reduction or changing of Divine Service 
for one that is defective in Sight, or has any 
Other Impediment, is — 12 00 06 

2?3 He 



582 



He that layeth aside the Custom of his own 
Order, and useth that of another, must pay 
for his Dispensation — — 09 02 06 

If a Chapter or Convent would change their 
Liturgy, their Dispensation will cost 60 15 00 

And if the Bull will authorize them to al- 
ter their Prayers, that is to say, to rehearse 
the last for the first, and the first for the last, 
the Dispensation will cost — 100 15 00 



Dispensations for doing contrary to the New 
Testament. 



F I ^HE ordinary Tax hereof is — 12 06 06 

J- The removing of dead Corps from one 
place to another, or to transfer a. Congrega- 
tion, or the Mass, that is to say, into any 
Place, only that Place which was appointed 
for it, a Dispensation will cost — 60 00 00 



Dispensations for the Reduction or Diminution 
of the Mass, 



TO reduce or shorten a Mass when the 
Revenue is small, the- Dispensation will 
cost — — — 04 03 06 

And if the Inhibitory Clause be added, you 
must pay — — 03 06 QO 

If a Rector of any Benefice desires a Dis- 
pensation for abbreviating the Mass, and that 
he would have this Dispensation to be for him 
and his Successors, he may obtain his Request, 
but he shall pay - — 30 10 OQ 

If it be a Chapter, College, or Corpora- 
tion that desire such a Dispensation, they must 
pay — —. 40 10 00 



Dispensations 



583 



Dispensations for Confirmations* 

THE Confirmation of a Statute for a Ca- 
thedral, will cost - 80 ig CO 

If it be for a College, it will cost but 60 15 03 

The Confirmation of a League or Agree- 
ment made between two Persons of Quality, 
provided that their being in Amity, Peace, 
or Charity one with another, will be rather 
to the Advantage, than to the Disadvantage 
of the Church, and that their Agreement will 
be according to the Canons of the Law, will 
cost but — — 12 03 06 

All Confirmations of the Alienations of Ec- 
clesiastical Goods, are taxed at — 12 03 06 

The Confirmation of a Statute concerning 
a certain Number of Ecclesiastical Benefices> 
will cost — — 40 10 00 

A Confirmation for an Erection or Re> 
serve of a Right of Patronage, will cost ac- 
cording to Value or Profit of the Patronage, 
at least — — 23 15 Op 

The Confirmation for a perpetual League 
or Alliance made by the Ordinary, for a Fact 
which the Law allows of, will Cost but 50 00 00 



Dispensations for Benefices and Rights for the 
Pooi\ 



A Prescript to choose a Ternative that one 
w r ould, or for to confirm unto a Poor 
Man the term of five Years, with the choice 
of Paymasters and Creditors, will cost 05 00 00 

And if the Clause Derogatory be added 
from the Law, with Orders for Bankrupts and 
Brokers, in a certain Way and Form paying 
their Creditors, it will cost — 08 02 08 

But if it be for a Clerk, and granted in a 
Chapter, it will be — _. 05 01 06 

2*4 .£nd 



rx ti *. 



58 



And if the Bull contains an Absolution from 
Ecclesiastical Censures, it will cost 06 01 6() 

And if the Bull brings Dispensations for 
Irregularities, it will cost — go 02 C0 



Dispensations for Declarations. 

LL Declarations of Law, whether it be 
Matters of Religion, or Murder, or any 
other thing, are ordinarily taxed — Od 02 06 

But if it be in cases of Matrimony, it will 
cost - — - Op 03 07 

For Transumptis, videmus, & per inde valere* 

| F any Priest having lost the Letters of his 
«* Orders, comes to the Bishop which ordain- 
ed him before, then he must pay for the re- 
newing his Letters and his Commission again, 
the Sum of — — 06 02 00 

For a Letter of Indictment for a Fact com- 
mitted in the Time of Supplication, though 
it was no Hindrance to the Confessors of the 
Bull, neither occasioned the altering or chang- 
ing the Rate which was set before upon the 
safdBull, will cost — —06 02' 00 

But if the Rate or Tax was changed, and 
that it exceeded Six Pound, you must pay the 
overplus 

Licenses and Dispensations for lndulgenties* 

\ Licence for transferring a Parish Church, 
to a Monastery with all things thereunto 
belonging, will cost — — 24 0(3 06 

And if the Bull mentions a Profanation of 
the Piace> where the said Church was first 
erected, it will be — — 40 00 00 

A Licence for Building a Font for the 
Christening of Children, is — 24 Q§ 00 

For 



535 

For building a College Church, or {he 
changing a Parochial into'a Collegia!, is 100 00 00 

To build a Parish Church, and therein to 
erect a Font, is licensed for — 24 06 0/ 

A Licence for transferring a Church-yard, 
or a Sanctuary, unto any temporal use, will 
cost — — — 12 03 00 

And if this Alteration is made upon the 
Request of a Whole Corporation or City, it 
will cost — — — - 48 12 06 

r 

A Licence to transfer, or remove Relicks 
from one Place to another, is — Og 02 0§ 

A Licence for saying Mass in an execrated 
Chapel, is — - 12 03 €0 

And if the Bull holds a Privilege for erect- 
ing a Parochial Church in that Place, it will 
cost — — 18 03 06 

A reserve of a Right of Patronage for one's 
.self and Heirs, will cost — ■ — 40 10 06 

To build a Shop in the Alley or Entry of 
^any Church, will cost — 1 2 03 -00 

A Licence for erect'ng a Fraternity and a 
Nunnery, together with a Permission for their 
being conversant one with another, and also 
Authority to confess one to another, and for 
keeping a neat Altar ; and for receiving the 
Sacrament at their Pleasure — 01 02 G(> 

To change the Feast of St.Didacus other- 
wise than after the Manner and Order of that 
Rubrick de Translationem cjficiis, will cost 12 13 06 

A Licence for saying Mass in all Places, 
will cost — — 09 00 00 

For one Priest to say Mass twice a Day, 
nay three times, if he be in terra harelicd 05 03 OS 

But if a College, Church, or Chapter, or 
a Corporation of Secular Priests together, de- 
sire this Privilege, it will cost them 100 18 00 

A whole City being interdicted, yet the 
Mayor, Aldermen, and Burgesses of that City 
may have a Licence to hear Mass in their own 
Houses, and may also be buried in their own 
Chapels, paying for their Licence — 100 06 00 

But 



586 



But if they will have an Altar portalile, 
that is, a portable Altar, they must pay more 08 00 00 

It the Bull be for the Husband and the 
Wife, it will cost — — Op 00 00 

And if it comprehends their Children, the 
Tax Will be — — 13 00 00 

A Licence for saying two Masses before 
Day, in nisi fuerit, in terra h£creticd> or at 
Christmas Dav, when tvevy Priest is bound 
to say three Masses, will cost — 12 03 OS 

To publish the Pardons of the Cardinals 
without. Licence from the Ordinary, will cost 0(5 00 00 

A Licence for saying the Canonical Hours, 
in any other way or order than according to 
the Constitution of the Diocess wherein one 
is beneficed, will cost — — 06 02 00 

And if it be for a Monk, it will cost 09 02 09 

And if the Bull doth give him leave to say 
his Prayers as he likes best, it shall cost 12 03 C9 

A Secular Priest that intends to dispose of 
Goods to his Relations, and not to the Clergy, 
he must pay for his Licence — 12 03 Off 

But if a Regular had a Design to have 
some of the Goods he hath in his Possession 
unto his Friends, he must pay for his Licence 07 03 04 

And if the Goods were acquired out of the 
Goods of the Monastery, he cannot dispose' 
of them, sine Licentid superioris, and that can 
hardly be gotten. 

If a Bishop distributes all his Goods to his 
Relations, he ought to hire his Licence, which 
will cost — — 36 09 00 

If an Abbot, or Superior of a Convent, he 
is to pay — — 50 00 00 

To change one's proper Name — O9 02 09 

A Licence for reconsecrating a Church, or 
Church-yard, is — — 12 03 Q6 

A Licence for a Child of twelve Years to 
hold a Canon's Place in a Cathedral, not- 
withstanding all the Rules of the Chancery 
contradicting such Things, yet he may obtain 
his Licence for — . — 12 03 03 

And 



06 


00 


00 


09 


02 


00 


04 


01 


04 


50 


09 


06 


00 


02 


09 


05 


09 


10 


24 


06 


00 



587 



And y" he be thirteen Years old, he pays 
but — — — 

For a Man to have a Licence to say Mass 
in Greek amongst the Grecians — 

For having Authority to visit the Holy Se- 
pulchre is — — 

A Bishop that would exempt himself a 
whole Year from being consecrated, he must 
pay for his Licence — — 

And if he would have it for seven Years, 
he may, paying only — 

A Licence for saying Mass with the Head 
covered, shall cost — — 

Jf a Bishop, or Abbot, desires such a Li* 
cence, he is to pay — — 

A Dispensation for a Titular Bishop, for 
his non Residens, in his own Bishoprick, will 
cost — — 18 04 02 

To hold two several Employs in the same 
Church, will cost — — J 2 03 06 

For a Titular Bishop that would exempt 
himself from taking a Journey to St. Peter s 
at Rome, by reason of the Distance of the 
Place, a Licence will cost — 24 OS CO 

And if it be for ever — 52 J 2 06 

A Dispensation for the Bastard of a Lay- 
man or Clergyman, that he may. enjoy the 
Legacy or Gift, which his Father hath left, 
as far as the Value of two hundred Ducats, 
it will cost — — 12 03 06 

And if he be the Son of a Monk, that hath 
Power to make a Will, he pays — 34 06 00 

To preach on Sundays, and other Festival 
Days, for the Space ot nve Years, for the re- 
deeming of poor Prisoners, the Licence will 
cost — — 12 03 06 

For the Chapter of a Cathedral, to contri- 
bute some Monies for the Maintenance and 
Reparation of a Town, will cost i— 24 06 QO 

A Dispensation for a temporal Lord, and 
his Family, to eat the Flesh of Beasts slain 
by Saracens, will cost — i 30 09 06 

A 



10 03 06 



58S 



A Woman of Honour accompanied with 
four Gentlewomen more, having a Desire to 
visit a Convent four times a Year, and then to 
stay for a considerable time, must pay for her 
Licence — — 12 03 06 

A Father that will put his Daughter to 
be bred with Nuns in their Convent, must 

pay — 

A Licence for a married Man, for receiv- 
ing the Habit of the third Order of St. 
Francis, that is to say, the Habit of Penance, 
will cost — — 12 03 06 

A Licence for a Knight of St. James, that 
he may marry a Widow, contrary to the Order 
of his Knighthood — - 12 03 06 

A Licence for a Friar, to hear the Con- 
fession of any other Nuns but those of his own 
Habit and Order, will cost — 15 04 CO 

A Licence for an Abbess, and three or four 
of her Nuns, together with so many jocund 
Friars to go abroad in the Country, to see 
-some Lands and Tenements belonging to the 
Mother Abbess, and there to recreate them- 
selves for a "Week or two, will cost — 24 Qd 00 

They may stay a little longer, provided they 
go always b'nii & bint, that is to say, two and 
two, and they are to have a great Care least 
they may give any bad Example, and if they 
do not live Caste, that is Chaste, at least let 
them live Caute, that is warily. 

A Cordelier having acquired a parcel of 
Lands or a Sum of Money by his own In- 
dustry, may leave it to his Nephews or Rela- 
tions, paying for his Licence, the Sum of 12 03 06 

A Regular having a desire to wear Shirts, 
or to lay in Sheets, must pay for his Licence 12 .03 C6' 

A whole Convent of Friars having a desire 
to change from one Order to another, must 
pay for their Licence — — 40 10 00 

But if the Order to which they alter be the 
more straight, they pay only — 12 03 0(3 

But if they change one Convent for ano- 
ther, with the Revenues and Utensils,, and all 

other 



589 



other Goods, the Prior or Guardian of each 

Convent, must pay — — 0f3 00 00 

A Licence to live in a Hermitage, will cost 12 03 05 

An Apostate having renounced his Habit 
and Order, and being again desirous to turn 
to his former Profession, must pay for his 
Transgressions — - 10 03 OS 

Lastly, If any Man have a desire to wear 
the Habit of any Order privately, or under 
his own Garment, he must pay for his Li- 
cence, the Sum of — — 06 03 06 



tw: 



590 



THE 



POSTSCRIPT. 



ND now I hope I have made good that I pro- 
mi fed, fufficiently difcovering the Cheats of thefe 
Merchants of Suuls ; and therefore your Charity will 
give mc leave to fay with the Apostle* lonum certa- 
men cerlavi, though I have not mentioned half the 
Abominations that are praclifed in this Kind, but I 
hope this is enough to prove, that Money, rather than 
true Repentance, is made the Ground of the Abfolu- 
tion of the moft heinous Sins : But I hope God will 
give me more Leifure, and better Opportunities of de- 
tecting the Wickednefs of this myftical Babylon, and 
then I engage never to be weary of the Defign I have 
undertook, in declaring to the World the Enormities 
of that Church, whereof I was once a Member, and 
was (though ignorantly) as great a Deluder as any of 
them. But thanks be to God who hath opened the 
Eyes of my Underftanding to difcover the Light of 
his glorious Gofpel, which I acknowledge as his in- 
finite Mercy, and who hath enjoined me, being now 
converted, to ftrengthen my Brethren ; and, therefore, 
I befeech you, as you love God, and tender the Salva- 
tion of your own Souls, to detefl not only the Vices 
themfelveSj but the Manner of forgiving them, prac- 

tifed 



591 



tifed in the Church of ROME. And beware of its 
Miffionaries, who go about like Wolves in Sheeps' 
cloathing, feeking whom they may devour; and have 
no other End, but to breed Confufions amongft us, 
to make us break the Bond of Union and Charity, in 
which we ought to be united, in one Lord Jesus ; 
To whom, be all Honour, and Glory, World with* 
cut End* , 



THE 

ABSOLUTION. 



T Have here fet down for the better Confirmation 
and Juftification of the Truth of this BOOK, the 
particular Form of Abfolution, that thefe Miffionaries 
do ufe to fuch Perfons as do confefs to them, and this 
is called Abfolutio gratialis, and is moft commonly 
ufed to Sick Perfons. 

After the Penitent has confefled his Sins, the 
Miflionary begins his Abfolution after this Manner : 

Miser eatur tui omnipotens Deus, & dimissis 
omnibus peccatis tuis, per ducat te ad vitam 
cetemam. Amen, 

Indulgentiam, dbsolutionem, & Remissionem 
omnium peccatorum tuorum tribuat tibi omni~ 
potens 4sf misericors Dominus. Amen. 

Delude 



592 

Delude Injungit pa?nitentiam, sicut ipsi 
videbitur conveniens, & postea dicit, 

TyOminus nosier Jesus Christies, te absolvat : 
& ego, Authoritate ipsius qua fungor, te 
absolvo, Imprimis ah omni Vinculo excommuni- 
cation'iSy majoris & minor is : (Sifuerit Clericus, 
dicet, suspensionis aut interdict!, si forte incur- 
rit:) & deinde absolvo te ah omnibus peccatis 
tuis 9 te? ah omnibus pcenis tibi in Purgatorio 
debitis pro peccatis & delictis, te? restiluo te 
unitati te? participationi Ecclesue : & virtute 
[_et~\ authoritate specialimihi in hdeparte Commissd, 
reoiituo te illi Innocently in qua eras quando 
bapiizatus fuisti; te?, si hdc vice non moriaris 9 
reserva tibi hanc gratiam pro extremo mortis 
orticuloy in nomine Patris te? Filii } te? Spiritus 
mncti. Amen, Jesus. 

Passio Domini nostri Jesu Christie te? merita 
Beaia? Maria? semper Virginis, te? omnium sanc- 
torum Ssf sanctarum ut quicquid boni feceris, 
vel mali paiienter sustinueris, sint tibi in Remis- 
sionem peccatorum, augmentum gratia?, £sf pro?' 
mium vita? a?terna?. Amen. Pax tecum, 



THE 



593 



THE 



ABSOLUTION 



THUS ENGLISHED. 



OUR Lord Jefus Cbr'ifi abfolve thee: and by Virtue 
of the Authority that I hold, I do abfolve thee; 
Firft, from all forts of Excommunications, whether 
great or fmall : (If the Penitent be a Clerk, he muft 
fay ; from all forts of Sufpenflons and Interdicts, (if 
by chance he hath incurred any) Then I abfolve thee 
from all thy Sins, and from all Sins and Torments 
due to thee in Purgatory for thy Sins and Tranfgref- 
fions ; and I receive thee into the Union and Partici- 
pation of the Church ; and by Virtue of a fpeciai 
Authority to me committed, I reftore thee into that 
Innocency in which thou haft been when thou wert 
baptized : And if thou die not at this Time, I referve 
thee this Grace, to the Hour of thy Death, In the 
Name of the Father, &c. and by the Merits and Paf- 
fion of our Lord and Saviour Jefus Chrifl, and the' 
Merits of the ever bleffed Virgin Mary, and of all the 
Saints and Virgins ; that whatfoever Good thou haft 
done, and whatfoever Injuries thou patiently haft fuf- 
fered, let them be unto thee a Remiffion of thy Sins, 
and an Augmentation to Grace, and a Premium of 
Life everlafting. Amen, Peace be with you. 

2 a N. B. 



594 



N. B. Thefe Names of Miflionaries and Poeniten- 
tiaries are all one ; the Dijlindiion only is, that thofe 
Poenitentiaries do rejide in the Court of Rome, and the 
Miflionaries are thofe which are difperfed through the 
Worlds notwithjlanding they have the fame Power and 
Authority to abfolve, id eft, a Cafibus Refervatis ; 
the Truth is, thofe do not direStly accumulate, or gather 
thefe Sums, hut they are to enlighten the Penance and 
Pilgrimage of the Penitents for paying thefe foremen- 
tioned Taxes to their feveral Deputies, appointed in all 
Places to that Purpofe. 



THE 

AUTHOR'S TESTIMONY 

FROM THE UNIVERSITY. 



THESE are to certify All whom it may Concern*: 
that Mr. Anthony Egane, Clerk, lately a Fran- 
cifcan Friar in Ireland, but now of the Reformed' 
Religion, hath for the Time of his Abode in the Uni- 
verfity of Oxford, behaved himfelf foberly, difcreetly^ 
and ftudioufly, and thereby hath been a happy Means 
to reduce fome Perfons to the Church of England^ 
who had been formerly perverted. In Witnefs where- 
of, I have hereunto put my Hand and Seal, in fuch 

Caufes 



595 



Caufes ufual, this Twenty-ninth Day of Auguft, in the 
Year of our Lord, 1673. 

P. Bath and Wells, 
Vice-Chan, of Oxon, 

Job. Wallis, Geo. Profef- 
for, Oxon, 

Tho. Yates, Prefident of 
Brazen Nofe. 

Ra. Bathurji, Principal of 
Trinity College. 

Ah. Camfian y Pro£l. 
Senior 

Idem Tejior, Tho. Bar Ion', 
Coll. Reginte Prtepofitus. 

Tho. Tullie Aula St. Ed- 
mundi Principalis. 

Cepia Vera. 



2 a2 AX 



596 

AN 

appendix; 



^~^HUS you have feen (good Reader) fome of the 
- great and crying Abominations, practifed not 
only with Impunity, but with Encouragement and 
Approbation in the Church of ROME. You have 
feeiij likewife, the Author's Sobriety, Difcretion, and 
Induflry in promoting the Caufe of Truth, afferted by 
fuch as had too great a Stock of Reputation of their 
own to venture on any thing lefs than the moft full 
and well-grounded Conviction. So that there does not 
appear to be the lead room to doubt the Truth of the 
Matter of Fact. How can it fail then to raife in the 
Minds of all unbiaffed Readers, the utmoft Detefta- 
tion and Abhorrence, to fee thofe Works of the 
Devil, which the Son of God came to deftrov, dif- 
penfed-with for the fake of filthy Lucre ? Is it poffible 
they mould commit the Cuftody of their Souls to fuch 
i'alfe Guides, as prefer worldly Intereft to Religion, 
Mammon to God ? Neither are thefe (though one 
would think enough to fhock any Perfon of fober 
Thought and Reflection) the only Abufes of that 
Apoltate Church : The whole Syftem of its Principles 
(fuch I mean wherein it ftands diftinguifhed from the 
Doctrine of Proteftants, and for which they fcparated 
from it) feems to be little elfe than a Complication of 
-grofs Abfurdities, and abominable Corruptions, 

To 



597 



To defcend a little to particulars, and that very 
briefly : That Church, whofe Doctrines are deftruc- 
tive of the true End of Converfation, and the quiet 
of Families ; that is fitted to difturb and undermine 
the Peace and Happinefs of Princes, and Communi- 
ties ; that robs God of his Glory, detracts from the 
All-fufficiency of our Saviour's Merits ; that locks up 
from a great Part of its Members the Key of faving 
Knowledge ; that is rigidly fevere in uncommanded 
Inftances, and fcandaloufiy loofe in exacting the Pre- 
cepts of the Gofpel ; that bids Defiance to Mens* Rea- 
fon and Senfes; that renders the ilricteft Preparation 
of its Communicants, to that which itfelf owns to be 
the mod folemn Ordinance of Religion, poflibly at 
leaft, fruitlefs and ineffectual, by that pernicious Doc- 
trine of the Validity of Sacraments depending on the 
Intention of the Prieft; that refifts and vilifies the 
Authority of the Holy Scriptures, contradicts the 
Doctrines and Practices of the Firft and pureft Ages 
of Chriftianiiy, forces its way (where it can) by the 
moft cruel and fanguinary Methods ; and after all, has 
left us without Hopes of a Reformation of its Errors, 
by arrogating to itfelf an Infallibility, though not 
agreed where to place it : That Church, I fay, in 
which all thefe Corruptions are to be found (and they 
are all to be found in the Roman Church) is fo far 
(whatever glorious Pretenfions it may make) from 
being the Pillar and Ground of Truth, and the pure 
and undented Spoufe of Jefus Chrift, from which 
whatfoever is feparated, is at the fame Time feparated 
from Chrift himfelf ; that on the contrary, Communion, 
with it is extremely hazardous of Salvation. Can it be 
ptherwife than extremely hazardous to communicate 
2 a 3 



598 

with thofe who have fuperfeded the Neceftity of being 
Holy in all manner of Converfation ; and of abftain- 
ing from all Appearance of Evil, by their Diftin&ion 
of Sins into Mortal and Venial, that is (as themfelves 
explain it) fuch as do, and fuch as do not, deferve 
eternal Damnation ? When yet we are allured from 
Scripture, that the Wages of every Sin is Death; That 
-pure and undefiled Religion is to keep ones felf unfpot- 
ted from the World ; That whatever Proficiency we 
have made in Virtue and Religion, we are not to reckon 
that we have already attained a fufficient Meafure, 
but advance ftill onwards to Perfection. That wc 
are commanded U love the Lord our God, with all 
our Heart, and Souls, and Strength ; and our Neigh- 
hour as our/elves ; to he Followers of God; and to h# 
Perfect, even as our Father who is in Heaven is Per- 
fetl. How muft this loofc Principle four and poifon 
Converfation, when even the ftricteft Bonds can 
fcarce hinder Men from being troublefome and in- 
jurious to one another? What can be thought of 
their making the Sacrament of Penance joined with 
Contrition, fufficient for Salvation, but that they de- 
ftroy the Neceflily of Repentance, by fubftituting in 
it's ftead, a cheap and easy Remedy ? For what 
need a Man be at the Pains of mortifying his Paf- 
fions and Appetites, and forfaking his Sins, fince, 
though he commits them again, upon confeflmg them 
with Sorrow to the Prieft, and receiving Abfolution, 
he is made perfectly whole } Their Do&rine of In- 
dulgences, or the difpofing of Pardons for Money, 
6#V. is another grofs and fcandalous Abufe, that can- 
not fail of being very mifchievous to Souls. I fhall 
tranferibe two Forms of them, which may be found 

in 



599 



in the Hours of the BlerTed Virgin, Secundum usum 
Sarum. The firft is of Pope John XXII. for faying 
three Prayers, as follows : 

Thys Three Prayers be written in the Ch.a- 
pelle of the Holy Crosse in Rome, otherwise 
called Sacellum Sanclas Cruris Septem Ro- 
manorum, whoo that devoutly say them shall 
obtain 90,000 Years of Pardon for dedly 
Sins, graunted by our Holie Father Jo. 22. 
Pope of Rome. 

The other is for St. Bernardine, of Siena, daily 
kneeling in the Worfhip of the Name of Jefus, thus : 

Thys most devoutly Prayer said the Holy 
Father St. Bernardine, dayly kneeling in 
the Worship of the most Holy Name Jesu. 
And yt is well to believe that thro 9 the Invo* 
cation of that most excellent Name of Jesu, 
S. Bernard, obtained a singular Reward of 
papetual Consolation of our Lord Jesu 
Christ. And thys Prayer is written in a 
Table that hangeth at Rome, in S. Peter's 
Church, nere to the high Aivter, there as 
our Holy Father the Pope duely is iconte to 
say the Office of the Masse. \ And hoo thai 
devoutly with a contrite Heart dayly say 
thys Oryson, yf he be that Day in the State 
of eternal Damnation, than thys [eternal 
2 Q_4 Payne 



600 

Payne shall be chaunged him in temporal 
Payne of Purgatory, than yf he hath de- 
served the Payne of Purgatory, yt shall he 
forgotten and forgiven, thoroiv the infnite 
Mercy of God. 

I think little need be faid, to (hew how this Doer- 
trine of Indigencies, joined with that of Purgatory 
(which is fuppofed to be a State of Punifhment, from 
whence the Souls of the Dead may be delivered by 
the Prayers and MafTes of the Living,) tends to de- 
ftroy the great End of our Saviour's Undertaking, 
which was, that he might redeem us from all Iniquity, 
and purify to himfelf a peculiar People, zealous of 
good Works. What wonder is it that their Zeal (hould 
flag, who are perfuaded, that, though their Repentance 
is not finished in this Life, it may in another, and 
themfelves be finally accepted ? As for this Doctrine 
of Purgatory, the Scripture is wholly filent about it: 
It fpeaks, indeed, of everlafting Happinefs appointed 
for the Good, and everlafting Mifery for the Wicked, 
but not one Word appears in it of this middle State. 
We are told there that the Dead are bleffed that die 
in the Lord, that they reft from their Labours, and 
their Works follow them. We do not find, indeed, 
that any, whofe Repentance is not finifhed as well as 
begun in this Life, can be faid to die in the Lord, 
or be capable of that BletTednefs. There we read as 
a powerful Motive to Perfeverance and Conftancy in 
good Works, that, if our earthly Hoi/fe of this Taber- 
nacle be diffolved, we have a Building with God, a 
Houfe not made with Hands, eternal in the Heavens { 

And 



601 

And to free the Matter from the lead Poffibility of 
Doubt, it is ufhered in with, We know. Again, 
the Penitent Thief was tranflated from the Oofs, 
immediately to Paradife. In the Parable of the Rich 
Man and Lazarus, which feems plainly defigned to 
acquaint us with the Happinefs and Mifery of Souls 
feparated from their Bodies; we find that the one 
went to Hell, and the other to Abraham's Bosom, 
without the leaft mention of any middle State be- 
tween them : And, elfewhere, we are told, that we 
muft, at the lajl Judgment) give an Account for the 
things done in the Body : but no where, that we fliall 
be accountable for things done in the Soul feparate 
from the Body. 

What fhall we fay of their Prayers in an unknown 
Tongue, of the Efficacy of Sacraments depending on 
the bare Adminiftration, and their interdicting the 
People the (acred Scriptures? 

Can Prayers be ofFered-up with that Devotion, deep 
Senfe of their Wants and Dependance on God, that 
becomes poor indigent Creatures fupplicating infinite 
Majefly, by thofe who know not what it is they pray, 
or rather, what the Priefl: fays for them ? Not to fay 
how contrary this Practice is to the Holy Scriptures, 
and to the conftant Ufage of the Church of Chrift for 
many Ages. 

Nothing need be added to fhew the pernicious Con- 
fequences of their Doctrine of the Efficacy of Sacra- 
ments, fince it can hardly be, that any can be fo ig- 
norant as not to difcover, that it takes-away the Necef- 
fity of Mens* preparing their Minds for them. 

Their interdicting People the Ufe of the Bible, 
may well be reckoned as a Part of that worldly Wif- 

dom, 



cos 

dom, for which they are fo defervedly remarkable 5 
nothing being more an enemy to their Doctrines and 
Practices, than that Holy Book: But how they fhall 
be able to anfwer to God and their own Conferences, 
for the Lofs of thofe Souls which they were obliged to 
watch over, and to whom they denied the moft fit and 
proper Means of Salvation, becomes them ferioufly 
to confiden One of the Holy Prophets, obferving 
fome in his Days, applying themfelves to other Means 
of Knowledge, inftead of the Scriptures, refers them 
to thofe Writings, faying, To the Law, and to the 
'Teftimony : if they fpeah not according to this Word, 
it is becavfe there is no Light in them. Our Saviour 
commands to fearch the Scriptures, St. Paul con- 
gratulates the Happinefs of Timothy, becaufe he had 
known the Scriptures from a Child ; which he adds, 
were able to make him wife unto Salvation. The 
Bereans have this great Encomium given them by an 
infpired Penman, that they were more noble than thofe 
of Theffalonica, becaufe they fearched the Scriptures 
daily, to fee whether thofe things were fo ; that is, 
they did not take things upon Truft, but by an impar- 
tial comparing one Place of Scripture with another, 
difcerned the Truths which St. Puiil and Silas deliver- 
ed to them. That the Scriptures were in the Hands 
of the People in the firft Ages of Chriftianity, is plain 
from this one Inftance, viz, that their Perfecutors 
commanding them to deliver up their Bibles to be 
burnt, many of them chofe rather to part with their 
Lives than their Bibles, and thofe that did not, were 
called Traditores, that is, Betrayers. 

I forbear to inftance, in their Doctrine of feven 
Sacraments, Ccehbacy of the Clergy, their Sprink- 
ling 



603 



ling with Holy Water, Baptizing of Bells, Exor- 
cifms, Pilgrimages, their rending their Flefh with 
Whips and Scourges, as if, inftead of a Being of in- 
finite Goodnefs, they were the Worfhippers of fome 
heathen Deity, or evil Daemon, who delighted in the 
Mifery of his Votaries ; their placing too much of 
Religion in external Performances, and Abftinences, 
&c. That is, in little Trifles, and infignificant No- 
things : Becaufe I defigned this for an Appendix, not 
a Treat ife. 

However, I mail venture to take up a little more of 
the Reader's Time, by faying fomething, (though very 
briefly) to thefe Particulars following, viz. Their Doc- 
trine of Merit, Tranfubftantiation, the Sacrifice of 
the JVJafs, half Communion, Traditions, their Idola- 
try, Cruelty and Perfidioufnefs to thofe who diflent 
from them. 

> The firft of thefe feems not to have the lead Foun- 
dation, either in Scripture or Reafon ; for what Worth 
is there (1 befeech you) in a few fhort-lived Services, 
made up of Imperfections ? If it were poflible for us 
to live here many Ages, and perform all that while a 
mod exact Obedience to the Divine Laws, without fa 
much as ftraying in a Thought ; yet even then there 
would be an infinite Difproportion between our Actions 
and their Rewards : How much more when in this 
Life, fhort as it is, there are fo many Defects in the 
very bed of us ? Our Saviour has fufficiently decided 
this Point, telling us, that, when we have done all 
that is commanded us, we are unprofitable Servants, 
we have done no more than was our Duty to do. I 
might, on this Head, have infilled on that Surplufage 
of Merits, which they pretend to be in the Treafury 

of 



604 



of the Church, and to Benefit not only the Pcrfons 
meriting, but Multitudes beiides: but I hope I need 
not tell you how derogatory this Opinion is to the 
AH-fufficient Merits of Chrift, who having purchafed 
us at fo dear a Rate,, we may be fure will fuffer no 
Sharers with him in. that which is his fole Preroga- 
tive. I (hall fay no more of Merit, than that it makes 
a Man think too well of himfelf, and too meanly of 
God. 

All that I (hall fay of Tranfubftanliation, or the 
fubftautial Change of the B.read and Wine, after the 
Words of Confecration pronounced by the Prieft, into 
the Natural Body and Blood of Chrift, is that it con- 
tradicts our Reafon and Senfes, overthrows the moft 
fubftantial Evidence for the Truth of Chriftianity, is 
contrary to the Nature of a Sacrament, and to thofe 
very Scriptures, on which they pretend to found it; 
whether we refpcct the 6th of John % or the Words of 
Jnftitution, which are the principal Places cited by 
them to fupport their Opinion : In the former of which 
we find, that whofoever eatetb Ch'ijVs Flejb r and 
drinkelb his Blood, hath eternal Life-, with more to 
the fame Purpofe. Now if every one who eats Chrift's 
Flefh, and drinks his Blood, hath eternal Life, then 
it is certain, that the Wicked do not eat his Fleflr, 
and drink his Blood; which nothing hinders but they 
might do, if the Words of Confecration, pronounced 
by a Prieft, produced fuch a wonderful Change, as 
they pretend. In the Words of Inftitution, the one 
is no otherwife called his Body, than as given [in the 
prefcnt Tenfe] or, as St. Paul has explained it, broken, 
that is, delivered up to the Death, nor the other his 
Blood, but as fhed; which could not be literally true 



• 605 

in the Tnftitution, nor now; therefore its Truth niuft 
be in Myftery and fpiritual JSffeftis* 

The Sacrifice of the Mafs feems plainly to over- 
throw the Efficacy of Chrift's Sacrifice; for if by that 
one Sacrifice we are delivered from the Power of the 
Devi), and inflated in a Capacity of everlafting Hap- 
pinefs, what can any New Sacrifice do more ? Add 
to this, that we are told in the Epiftle to the Hebrews, 
that where a Sacrifice is peifecl:, (which all muft 
grant the Sacrifice of Chrift to be) it needs not be re- 
peated, nor, by Parity of Reafon, to have any other 
fubftituted in its Room : Nay, that Divine Author 
ufes fuch an Argument, as equally excludes both. 
Thus it runs : hecaufe that the JVurJhippers once Purged 
JJjould have had no more Corfcience of Sins. Mark, if' 
the Worfhippers were once purged, they (hould have 
had no more Conference of Sins, or Guilt, confe- 
quently no need of any other Sacrifice. In the fame 
Chapter we read, that we are SancYified through the 
Offering of the Body of Jefus Chrift once for all. 
That this Man, after he had offered one Sacrifice for 
Sins, for ever fate down on the Right-hand of God. 
That by one offering he hath perfecled for ever them 
that are fanclifed. That if we Sin wilfully after we 
have received the Knowledge of the Truth, there re- 
maineth no more Sacrifice for Sin. What then be- 
comes of their Mafs being a Propitiatory Sacrifice for 
Quick and Dead? It is plain (to fpeak in the fofteft 
Terms) it is all a meer Cozenage and Impofture. 

That our Saviour gave the Sacrament in both 
Kinds to his Difciples, cannot be denied. That he 
Commanded them to blcfs, or confecrate, and diftri- 
bute both, can (T think) with as little Colour be de- 
nied, 



606 

nied. That the Corinthians, to whom St. Paul wrote, 
did fo, is equally plain. That it was generally given 
fo for about a thoufand Years after Cbri/l, is acknow^ 
ledged by our Adverfaries. And what Power they 
have of taking-away one Part more than another, or 
both, no good Reafon can be affigned. I am fure St. 
Paul fpeaks of the Continuance of both till our Lord's 
coming. 

As to Traditions, if they will be content with fuch 
as contradict no Rule or Canon of Scripture, though 
they mould happen to over-value them, we will not 
vehemently contend with them about them ; but when 
they fet-up fuch Things for Apoftolical Traditions, 
as contradict manifeft Scriptures, which both they 
and we allow to be written by Divine Infpiration, we 
cannot forbear {hewing the utmoft Abhorrence of 
them. 

Their Idolatry is fo manifeft, that the bare expofmg 
it to view feems a fufficient Confutation of it. If to 
make any Being, the object of our Truft and Confi- 
dence, it is necefTarily that he mould know all our 
Wants, and be able to relieve them, which we are 
fure that a Being of all poflible Perfection can, but 
not fure concerning any other; what mu ft be thought 
of their Prayers to Saints, Angels, and the BlerTed. 
Virgin ; nay their Worfhip of Images and Relics? 

As to their treacherous and perfidious Principles, 
we need but have recourfe to the Councils of Lateran 
and Conftance ; the former of which authorized Princes 
to exterminate fuch as they called Hereticks, and the 
Depofing of Princes for Herefy ; the latter the break- 
ing Faith with Hereticks. Their cruel and barbarous 
Treatment of thofe who difTented from them, has 

been 



607 



been fufficiently experienced by us of thefe Nations, 
France, Hungary, Bohemia, the Vallies of Piedmont, 
the Netherlands ; and indeed where not, where they 
had fufHcient Power to exert their Tyranny ? 

What then remains, but that as we value our own 
private Happinefs, that of the Community whereof 
we are Members, the Favour of God, and the Salva- 
tion of our Souls, we would fhun thofe Principles and 
Practices which are deftructive of all thefe Interefts ; 
and thankfully receiving the invaluable Bleffing of the 
Reformation, never fuffer ourfelves to be any more en- 
tangled with that intolerable Yoke of Romish Bond- 
age, from which we are fo happily delivered? 



FINIS. 



R. Wilka Printer, Chaacery-lane. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS ^ 



ill 

020 708 905 9 



